The Other Side Of The Mule

The Other Side Of The Mule

The Braille Monitor_______December

1997

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The Other Side

of the Mule

by Randy Cox

From the Editor: Randy and Kristin

Cox are active members of the National Federation of the Blind of Utah. The

following article first appeared in the fall, 1997, edition of Insight,

the publication of the NFB of Utah. This is what Randy says:

I suggest that there are two main steps

in solving a problem: 1) correctly perceiving what the problem is; and 2) using

the right method to solve it. The first step largely determines the second.

Let me illustrate this with an example.

A Zen master is walking through a small

town when he comes upon a group of irate people arguing. He asks a person at

the center of the fray what the commotion is about. He is told that a mule is

in the middle of the street, kicking people as they walk by. The crowd is trying

to determine how to get past the mule safely.

The Zen master watches as several strong

young men try to walk by the mule holding boards up as a shield only to have

the board shattered and their arms hurt by the mule's hooves. He overhears an

optimist declare that they just need the right attitude and then observes him

walking down the street and being kicked as well. He turns to see a group of

intellectuals bringing a chalkboard onto the nearby shop's front porch while

they discuss the reasons why the mule may be kicking and the impact of each

kick. Many conclude with solemn faces that they will be unable to go down that

street anymore.

A tranquil smile crosses the Zen master's

face as he rises from his seat and quietly begins walking down the street. Slowly

the villagers become aware of the old man and stop their chatter to see what

he will do. They watch as the master makes a left turn several yards in front

of the mule onto a cross street. They watch until he disappears. As they look

around, they suddenly see him reappear from the left but several yards past

the mule. As it dawns on the crowd what the man has done, they notice him stop

to wave before he continues serenely on his journey.

This story illustrates the two points

about problem-solving I mentioned earlier. The villagers perceived the problem

to be the mule. Consequently, that is where they focused their attention. Some

tried to force their way past the obstacle. Some tried to change their attitude.

Some tried to analyze the problem. Some just gave up. But the mule kept kicking.

The Zen master, on the other hand, realized

that the problem was not the mule but the route. As a result he focused on finding

a path that would get him where he needed to go without meeting the mule. I

am reminded of a comment Albert Einstein made once:

"The significant problems we face

cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

What does all this have to do with blindness

in general and with the National Federation of the Blind in particular? Let's

say that someone has recently become blind. For the sake of this example, we'll

call him Johnny. He experiences the usual frustration of not being able to read

and do well in his work. He has difficulty getting around town as easily as

he used to. Tasks that used to be simple he now perceives to be hard. In other

words, he now finds himself with a problem.

Let's go back to the two-step process

mentioned earlier. Step one is correctly identifying the problem. If Johnny

perceives the problem to be blindness itself, this obviously has a large impact

on his approach to step two: applying the right solution. If he thinks blindness

is the problem, he may try to continue doing things the way he did before he

was blind and force his way along. He may try to ignore the reality of his situation

and just work on his attitude. Perhaps he studies the causes of blindness, various

degrees of vision, the impact of blindness on those confronted by it, etc. He

may just put his life on hold and simply wait for his blindness to be cured.

But after all of his effort, Johnny is still blind, still unable to read, and

still prevented from traveling effectively.

To continue our example, let's say Johnny

meets a member of the NFB whom we will call Sue. What does Sue think Johnny's

problem is? For starters, she does not identify blindness as the problem. She

recognizes that Johnny's perception that blindness is the problem is actually

most of the problem. The remainder is his lack of proper training and opportunity

largely resulting from society's misconceptions and ignorance about blindness.

Since Sue sees the problem differently,

her approach is different as well. Instead of encouraging Johnny to read print,

she teaches him Braille. Instead of watching Johnny get lost and bump into things

while working to keep a good attitude, she shows him how to use a long white

cane. Instead of allowing Johnny to sit home asking "Why?" she introduces

him to people who are saying, "This is how."

In my experience the NFB is the only

organization with the correct perception of and approach to blindness. Some

may argue that we are wrong, But they argue as they watch blind people wave

back to them from the other side of the mule.