O Joe, O Joe, Where did your sight go?

Joe was blind. Most people would consider his condition to be of the worst kind, for there was a time in Joe’s life when he could see. He used to have the capacity, much like most healthy young men, to see with near perfect vision all the colors of fall, the sun shimmering on the ocean during summer or the last wisps of daylight on a midwinter day. Throughout the duration of his days of sight Joe never appreciated these things. He passed the days idly, much like most healthy young boys, never really stopping to appreciate the world around him until one day it was all gone and the only world that Joe knew was what he could created from his remaining four senses. The unfortunate young man woke up one morning to a blurry sight. That is, his sight was very blurry. By the end of the day it was darkness, pure unremitting and indefatigable darkness. Joe’s parents cried and cried; outraged that such a thing could happen to their perfect, healthy young boy. The fourth, fifth and sixth opinions from the fourth, fifth and sixth doctor that Joe was dragged to, all agreed that Joe was blind and that the reason was far beyond the comprehension of the mortal man. For Joe however just sat. For nearly a week Joe sat in silence just listening to everything around him. The truth was that, after the initial shock of going blind Joe wasn’t all that upset about not being able to see. He realized that he had never really appreciated his sight because there wasn’t really anything particularly beautiful for him to look at in the dull, gray existence that was his life.
While Joe’s parents never could quite cope with the loss of sight that befell their son, Joe considered it the best thing that ever happened to him. As the weeks passed and Joe finally began to digress from the constant sitting position he began to notice things that he had never noticed before. Walking down the stairs from his room, Joe could hear the tiny creak of each stair and as a result see with unfettered definition, the beauty of the old oak panels that he had bound up and down a thousand times before. As he entered the kitchen he could scarcely distinguish the difference between the art of grilled cheese making and beautiful sound of the symphonies that his dad used to play when he was a child. This incredible realization inspired eleven-year-old Joe and in two years he had mastered the piano and had begun working on his first symphony.
While Joe could no longer see as you or I can, he could see the universe of sound that had always been around him. Finally nothing seemed gray to Joe, the world buzzed with color, colors that Joe could now only feel. But this was not to last. At age fourteen, having completed and published three symphonies Joe’s sight returned to him. While he could still hear just as well, the world returned to gray for Joe. The only thing that was left was the sweet taste of grilled cheese.