Discussion: You might be a nerd if...
What are your thoughts after reading this short story?
Has this story changed your thinking in any way?
Maybe we can collect our different reactions and email them to the
author as Ms. Chung suggested in class.
posted by 馬自美 Mei @ 12:50 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
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We, sighted folk, can hardly understand any one else except ourselves. Let along to understand a blind person. It’s totally a different world even though we live in the same three-dimensional space.
Tom impressed me so much. It never occurs to me that a blind person can live his own life so well independently. And I shall never realize that a blind person can master anatomy if I did not meet Tom through his short story. He can even do cooking. That’s awesome!
Those who can't see will develop their own ways to realize the world, to experience it. We are inclined to think that they don’t realize the world as much as we do. But actually, it may be possible that we do not realize it as much as they do. They lose one of their avenues to be in touch with the outside world. However I believe that they have developed more than one way to get connected to it. We shouldn’t worry for them so much.
We often tend to underestimate other people’s abilities. More often than to over estimate them. And we think that we can rely totally on what we see. However this is a so damn weakness of us that we can even not realize. We seldom doubt it except in a philosophy classroom.
Dear Larry:
You are a person of fun and your article is really interesting! It is hard to imagine how you cooked a big meal! It is also hard to imagine how you did lots of things by your own… maybe the best explanation is that the power of love was too unimaginable! I guess you have a beautiful voice, and you like music very much. You are very thoughtful in many minimal details, too.
When I saw the title “You Might Be a Nerd If….” again after reading the whole story, I smiled and understood why Tom Brennan used that! Preparing all stuff, cleaning the whole house, or anything for the date are just like preparing for a test as a good student would do! But I was so amazed that there is still someone dating so romantic! If I were Jane, how I would be deeply moved!
I don’t have any experience of being with blind person; therefore, this story gives me some ideas about them. Now I know blind people really can lead their live just as how we live, so next time if I have the chance to get along with them, I think I can use the same attitude toward them just like how I do with normal people! And that may be what they really want we do!
Of course, it is really an impressive story, not only for the special subject that author, Tom Brennan studied, but also for the interesting contents!! I like it very much!
Grace Yen
(Dear Mei, could you help me delete my prevoius message, for I totally forgot my password of the accunt.)
Thanks to Mr. Brennan for sharing such an interesting story. Though the date sounds as though it was not perfect, Jane still became your “very good” friend. (Personally, I don’t think girls really want perfection; we’re usually much more impressed by eventful dates.) Besides, Mr. Brennan’s story is helpful, too. Because I was told that it’s a bit difficult for blind people to learn three-dimensional things. I had been wondering how they learn solid geometry and anatomy.
I don't remember my login password. I'm sorry. The following is my correction.
Annie Chan 提到...
In fact, it’s hard for me to believe that blind people are able to take care of the everyday things that we ought to take care of. I had thought the blind would have had to be cared for by others most of the time, but this story proved wrong. This story is very interesting. I'm impressed by the part where Jane was scared by the models.
I’m a social work student. Could I ask you some questions? Are you satisfied with the welfare available to you? Is that anything you think unsatisfied or unfair?
When and how did you learn how to cook? It's amazing. I wonder
how long it took you to learn how to use the stove? And the most important thing is, how do you know when the food is done?
I’ve seen a movie, “Helen Keller”. Do you know the movie? It really touched me. Was there anything in the movie that really impressed you? Did you spend a lot of time becoming familiar with your house, kitchen anything strange to you? I just learn about wondering if much of your success is due to mainly your perspiration. I always see other successes but don’t think about how hard they work. By the way, is it difficult for you to find a job? Do you have any problems making friends? What things in daily life give you difficulty? Is there anything that you need other people to help you? I’m not sure whether these questions are proper or not. I hope they don’t offend you. Thanks for your story. It reminds me of some important lessons.
We sighted folk can hardly understand any one else besides ourselves, and certainly not a blind person. It’s a totally different world, even though we live in the same three-dimensional space.
Tom impressed me so much. It would never have occurred to me that a blind person could live his own life so well independently. And I would never have realized that a blind person could master anatomy had I not met Tom through his short story. He can even cook. That's awesome!
Those who can't see will develop their own ways to experience the world. We are inclined to think that they don’t experience the world as much as we do. But actually, it may be possible that we do not experience it as deeply as they do. They lose one of their avenues to be in touch with the outside world. However I believe that they have developed more than one way to get connected to it. We shouldn’t worry so much about them.
We often tend to underestimate other people’s abilities, more often than to overestimate them. And we think that we can rely totally on what we see. However this is a weakness of our own that we are often not aware of. We seldom doubt it except in a philosophy classroom
Before reading this story, I had no idea about how blind folks live. Every time I see blind person, I always think that they are very brave. I can’t imagine how I would live my life without sight. If I tried my best to get used to it, could I interact with people, take care of myself, do the things I like to do now? This story uses humor to share a little bit of the problems you’d have without sight. I think it is very interesting to know some of the viewpoints that blind folks have on sighted folks. For example, I didn’t notice that we looking around all the time. Maybe that’s because we mostly use our eyes to collect information. And I think this is also the safest way to notice danger as opposed to touch or listen. But I don’t know, maybe blind people have other methods to protect themselves from danger. Another thing I found interesting was the glass door issue. Some things we think are natural, but to others they may not be. We use glass doors to see the things inside, but to blind people it is just a door. It made me think that the world needs both blind folks and sighted folks. We need sighted folks to set some basic rules, so humans won’t bump into each other; but blind people can let us believe it is possible to have different point of view and live in other ways.
Recently, I have been watching a excellent soap opera that gives me the chance to look into different people’s lives. The part that strikes me most concerns the father in the family. He was badly hurt on the battlefield. His body almost completely paralyzed and he could only sit in his wheelchair all the time. I felt compassion for him but didn’t have too much feeling when I saw it. Until one day, I saw a wheelchair in the corner of our church. I suddenly had a feeling that I must sit in it, so I sat in it and tried to operate it as though I couldn’t use my legs. I also asked my sister to sit in it and let me push her. All these things I did were for one purpose: I wanted to know how this man felt when he would have to depend on others for the rest of his life. And I wondered his wife felt, if she had to use her life to serve her woodlike husband, and push him here and there. Nowadays, society has become more and more complicated. In order to make the world more harmonious, I think people need to understand others more. But sympathy won’t grow by itself; we have to put some effort into it, like reading Tom’s story, and trying to operate a wheelchair. In my opinion, many arguments are caused by a lack of sympathy. Maybe being busy is a common excuse for people to care only about oneself in this world. I feel very happy now, because in his story Tom not only shared with us some interesting things in his life, but it also made me think that every life under all kinds of different circumstances is worth understanding.
Actually I never once imagined what the life of a person with a disorder would be like. I am truly impressed by the author. First, because he is such an optimistic guy who doesn’t get depressed easily. In this story, every time when he faced a difficulty, he would think of many ways to solve it. Though in the long run he decided to complete it by himself, he wouldn’t feel down at all. This is something everyone needs to learn but often, we don’t do it well. The second thing that impressed me is that he did quite well working on a degree in speech-language pathology. Even though he couldn’t read with his eyes, he still found solutions. Instead of reading the textbooks, he touched everything using anatomical models. In fact, if someone loses one kind of innate ability, he can develop another one better . For example, if one loses one’s sight, he can develop his hearing more. No one can help a person who is disabled to look at the bright side of life. The only one who can save him is he himself. The author has overcome the biggest obstacle preventing him from moving forward. Therefore, he deserves the same things as anyone else. He can enjoy the feeling of falling in love with somebody and receive the same from others. This story is full of fun that truly reflects Tom’s real life, such as cleaning the house, cooking for himself and working hard on his degree. He also tells us that what differences still remain between him and a sighted person. However, we can surely know that he rejects passivity and has chosen to face life optimistically.
Feedback on You Might Be A Nerd If… (Xu Yu 周敘余)
This is a very interesting story. I think Jane is so lucky that there is a guy who is so thoughtful and did so many things to try to impress her like that. If I were Jane, I would feel very touched at Tom’s sweetness.
The author is an interesting person. Based on the tone of his story, he is humorous and optimistic. If I were blind, I might be very pessimistic and have a sense of inferiority. However Tom Brennan makes a big effort to get and do everything he wants. He went to school to work on a degree, lives by himself, makes friends and learns everything that sighted folks can do, such as cooking, washing dishes and ironing.
He is a brave person. As a blind person, he must have had many unhappy experiences in his life. Blind people have to work harder than sighted people and they have to face more failures and setbacks than sighted people. Many people might give up because of these failures, but Tom Brennan doesn’t. He struggles against his defect, hoping to do as much as anyone else. Actually he even does better than most people. I admire his courage and enterprise.
I like this text very much because the author portrayed his experiences in an easy tone. Some of the sentences that impressed me are “who calls their mother about dates, anyway?” , “I had always scoffed at all this and now I had both feet stuck right in the middle of the need to do exactly that” and “oh well, maybe it would make points for me for not being a slob.” When I read those words, I smiled at his humor. He always ridicules himself and in this way shows his generous nature. His personality is one we can learn from.
Many fresh things came into my mind when I read this story. I had never thought much about what life would be like without eyes. The short story has opened up for me a whole new way to see the world, and shifted my vantage point from that of a sighted person into that of a blind person. I had complicated feelings when Tom mentioned that blind people can only “touch around” in the way that we sighted people can do easily without regarding it as a privilege. Shouldn’t we cherish what we have now?
Actually, this is really an interesting story that made me laugh many times. I admire Tom’s attitude toward his life. Reading this story is like gossiping about someone else’s love affair. However, underneath the gossip are profound thoughts containing wisdom about live.
Mr. Brennan:
My name is Rico, and I live in Taiwan. I am one of the students in Prof. Chung’s class at Taiwan University. We’ve read your story “You Might Be A Nerd If…” I think it’s quite interesting.
In addition this one, I also read several other of your stories about your dogs and friends on your website. I am happy you are an animal lover, too. I also like dogs. Although they are naughty sometimes, they are the best companions. You might have heard of the story about a guide dog in Japan named “Quill”. I wonder if there are lots of guide dogs in the US now? Have you ever considered of having a guide dog with you? I ask this because in Taiwan there are few of them, and facilities helping blind people are inadequate, too.
Despite all this, Taiwan is still a nice country worth visiting. Foreigners are always welcomed here, and you can taste all kind of Taiwanese snacks. Being an oceanic island, there is a variety of seafood in Taiwan. I can say this might be the best reason to live here. The climate here is fair; the average temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe you can start to think about my suggestions and make a travel plan; my classmates and me are willing to be your tour guide.
I know you are an amateur radio operator, so I am glad to tell you that I also have a transceiver. It is a small one that has only a frequency range of 144-148/430-450 MHz in TX mode and 30-1300 MHz in RX mode. I never use it to communicate with others, but I only do listen to “Air Traffic Control” communications. I often bring it with me when I go to the airport and watching aircrafts taking off and landing. This is fun for me, because I can know when and where the aircrafts will show up. I don’t know whether it is legal to do such a thing in the US, for me it is okay in Taiwan as long as I don’t try to interfere in the pilots’ operations. If this won’t be a problem for you, then you should try it sometimes; you can do it as a pastime. (I learned this word from one of your articles).
Rico
The whole short story made me laugh several times. The author narrated the whole story smoothly. From his preparation for dinner to the embarrassing situation, he put many bits of humor into it.
The most impressive part for me is that Jane was terrified several times when Larry’s organs appeared one after another. And finally she required the author tell her what all this was as he took Larry and Jane’s organs out from the bag. I think this part is the high point of the whole story.
I also appreciated the author. Although blind, he seems to deal with everything well. He can patiently do housework just to impress a girl. And he was very considerate when he didn't know what food Jane liked. For example, he stocked up on all sorts of drinks up and bought both real cheese and vanilla ice cream in case that there were none of Jane’s favorite drinks or flavors.
The short story states the author’s love for Jane in graduate school. I think it very pure and innocent. And his short story is full of his funny and comical thoughts. For example, the end of the story shows that the author didn’t learn a lesson on putting peculiar stuff in obvious places. Thus, I hope to read more short stories by this author and enjoy more of the author’s life experiences.
When I saw the title “You Might Be a Nerd If….” again after reading the whole story, I smiled and understood why Tom Brennan used that! Preparing all stuff, cleaning the whole house, or anything for the date are just like preparing for a test as a good student would do! But I was so amazed that there is still someone dating such a romantic way! If I were Jane, I would be deeply moved!
I don’t have any experience being with a blind person; therefore, this story gives me some idea about what it’s like to be blind. Now I know that blind people really can lead a full life just like anyone else, so next time if I have the chance to interact with a blond person, I think I can use the same attitude toward them as I do with anyone else! And that may be what they really want us to do!
Of course, it is really an impressive story, not only for the special subject that author, Tom Brennan studied, but also for the interesting contents!! I like it very much!
It was interesting for me to read Mr. Brennan’s short story, “You Might Be A Nerd If…”. It’s hard for sighted folks to imagine what it would be like to be blind, at least I’d never thought of this before. Mr. Brennan told his story with humor, and mentioned some funny problems that a sighted person would never encounter, and these made me laugh several times, though it wouldn’t have been laughable if it had happened to me, for example, the paragraphs describing the process of Jane’s seeing Larry and model Jane.
One thing I’d like to know is, are the “models” only used when learning anatomy, or also in normal life? I mean, most blind people don’t learn anatomy, so how could they know what a person is like? Another question is, does Mr. Brennan have a guide dog? He didn’t mention that at all. If not, how does he manager his life? It seems that he lives alone! This is just my own little question. ^^”
This short story also reminds me of something that happened in my junior or senior high school ( I am not really sure when). After we read an article on Helen Keller, our teacher requested us “to be blind” for five to ten minutes. First I had tofind a partner, and then we both took turns covering up our eyes with a cloth, pretending we were blind. And the one who didn’t cover his/her eyes was to stay by the side of the one who covered his/ her eyes when he/she was walking around, lest something dangerous should happen. This was my first time to experience what the world might be like if I were blind. Just as Mr. Brennan said, I had to touch things around me in order not to take a tumble because I couldn’t see anything. Worst of all, even though I had done that, I would still bump into things when walking. So I think it’s really hard for blind people to adapt to ordinary living, especially after I had this special experience.
Finally, what I want to say to Mr. Brennan is “It’s really a pity that you didn’t stay with Jane. I think she would be an even better girlfriend than a “model”! And I really enjoyed your short story ─ except for the test on it will be waiting for me!
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