Ok…ok…so I dropped the ball. First there was that awful griefing incident on Helen Keller's birthday….horrible. Then we got a stay of execution. Never a good thing for a procrastinator…just gave me an excuse and an opportunity to postpone writing, and also gave me more time to play with Max!!
Play though was not what he had on his mind. Work, work, work - this dog meant business and he was determined to show me everything he could do, and more importantly, what it would be like to be blind and be truly dependent on him to get around the SL grid.
Well if you don't mind the pun…"what an eye opener" this has been. There is so much to hear and experience…people to meet…questions to answer. Strangers would come up to me and ask me about Max and want to know more - how to go on the quest and get their own dog. An entire class of students came in a group! Very exciting stuff.
And then I met Louise Later and Jolie 1 Magic who actually helped create Max and use him to get around Second Life. He levels the playing field for them just like so much of Second Life does for so many people who are handicapped in their first lives but here are transformed….healed.
Our prejudices, even ignorance become irrelevant. We can't "see" the handicap, so it is not there. Just the person is there…their essence…their humanity. Who would have thought that a pixelated reality would be where we learned to celebrate diversity, see its strength…learn empathy and even wisdom.
Thank you Max, Louise, and Jolie…thank you…
- Marty Snowpaw
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