Blind smile
A little while ago, I was sitting on the S-Bahn. On the seat opposite me was a man who was smiling to himself, looking quite content.
I was pleased to see him smile, so I smiled back and smiled at him. He didn’t respond straight away, but continued to smile contentedly.
As he got out, I saw the white cane in his hand. He didn’t even see me smiling!
– Did he feel it? I hope so.
– And I ask myself: How do you smile at a blind person?
And I think: what a shame that some people who can see are blind to the smiles of others.
These are photos of smiling volunteers on the ship today – who were delighted to be able to help me!
What a gift!
Hello Kerstin, that’s a lovely story about the smile. It’s also interesting that people who have been blind since birth display the same emotional facial expressions as sighted people. In that sense, you can also tell how a blind person is feeling just by looking at them. In doing so, he gave you a smile too. And now that smile is being passed on here…;-)))
I find it interesting that smiling is innate. Which also means that facial expressions and the expression of emotions aren’t solely picked up and learnt by imitation. Fascinating.