What Do You See?

What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." … Immediately he received his sight…

Mark 10:51,52

What do you see? I mean, really? We're all looking at the same things every day but chances are what each of us sees is very different from the next person.

When I was a house officer, an intern at the teaching hospital, I saw veins. Lots and lots of veins. My job description involved, to a large extent, taking blood samples from patients, and like a rapacious leech, when I saw someone, my eyes would track downwards ever so subtly to their arms, looking for the biggest, juiciest vessels suitable for bloodletting. Now, as an aspiring clinician, when I see people I'm always on the look out for "signs" - white nails, yellow eyes, lilting gaits - anything that would suggest a disease process. But then it's not just me.

When I'm with Flensted or Shola, they always seem to see buildings and structures. They are always talking with great gusto about what is wrong with the architecture of this residence or that high rise and on the rare occasion tipping their hats in honor of some builder's exploits. Can't blame them though - they're architects.

And then there is Austine. He sees poles. I don't know how he does it, but he's constantly analyzing sizes, heights and construction of telephone poles, pylons and electrical lines along the highway. And he doesn't get tired, not once.

But let us not forget mom. Like the good mother she is, she's always doing a mental cleanup when she's around me, picking up clothes, rearranging papers and digging up the weed patch, all with her eyes. I don't seem to notice how unkempt my surroundings are until she comes around. She sees things that I don't.

Can you remember when Jesus asked someone this same question, "What do you see?" In Mark 8 he was talking to a blind man at Bethsaida and he had just spit into the man's eyes. The man answered, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." But after a second touch from the Lord the Bible says he "saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus".

So I ask you again, what do you see? When we look at people, do we see them hurting and lost and in need of a friend? Do we see the pain of unfulfilled desires and the distress of unsolicited trouble? Let me show you what Jesus saw when he looked at people. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)

If only we would open our eyes to the world around us, perhaps we would begin to see the sorry state of our world. There really are people in need around us, people we could genuinely help. So why not go ahead and ask Jesus to open your eyes. It may take a little spit in the eyes, but then, that never hurt nobody.

With love, Doosuur.