How do you empathize with the “others”? With the people who you never see the world like the way they see? I don’t expect you to answer this so perfectly, because I know that it’s very difficult to find an answer. But at least we know that weneed to try to find a way. People always say that we need to empathize with the others but they never say how to. The founder of The Dialogue in The Dark, Andreas Heinecke helped us about the “how to” part and started this project.
When I first went to the dialogue, I had no idea about what was in there. I only knew that it was going to be a dark journey. Before going to the dialogue, my opinion about the blind people was familiar with the other’s: “Poor people, I wish I could help them, I’m glad that I see the world…” now when I think about my old thought, I say, “I’m the poor one to think that they can’t do anything.” I really am. We are the ones who see them as disabled. When we all were under the same conditions in the dark, I saw that they have a thousand times better senses than us. Before the dialogue, I never exactly felt like the way the blind people feel. But in there, in the dark, everything was so different. It was like living in another world, in a world that no one judges you by how expensive your clothes are or how beautiful you are… It was the world of my dreams: a world with no bias in it.
Our tour guide (which is also a blind person) helped us in the dark and with his instructions; living in the dark became a normal thing after half an hour. We got used to it and our reflexes, senses got stronger. At the end of one hour, we were totally impressed. When we see our tour guide when the lights were on, he was the first person that I met in the dark without seeing. During the one hour, we shared our thoughts and we just listened each other very carefully. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I want to go to the dialogue in every month. I think that all the people need to have a chance to have this amazing experience.
I wish any bias would be this much easy to break down. I wish all the people would empathize with each other. But I’m not hopeless, I believe in the world that I’m living in and I believe in the people that I’m living with. Some day the people will see that none of us is different from each other.
