Beauty and the Blind

A touching article about a woman who, after losing her sight, still is profoundly struck by beauty.

http://nfb.org/legacy/bm/bm03/bm0306/bm030611.htm

I ran across this article while researching something unrelated. It spoke deeply to me. Recently, I had a dream in which I was asking God about human suffering and pain. One of humanity's ongoing existential struggles, no doubt. Being human, I was asking God about my particular struggle, which, in the scope of human suffering, is truly nothing. But, I digress.

In this dream, God shows me a caterpillar inching its' way up a green stalk. He says, "That is you," I looked at the caterpillar make its' way, painfully slowly, up the green plant's stalk. He asked me, "What happens if the caterpillar turns around?" I answered that, I guess, it would just return to the grass. He agreed and then asked me to watch the caterpillar once more. So, I did. It reached the end of the stalk and made a cacoon. After being in total darkness, it emerges as a fragile, stained glass, backlit, ethereal looking butterfly. It was the most fragile and finely crafted glass I have ever seen, yet the creature was animate, flitting about in the night sky. Its' delicate perfection was apparent not only in its fragility but the incredibly intense colors: greens, violets, vibrant shades of orange contrasted by the coolest of electric blues.

Later in the week, my daughter went to her favorite art studio with her babysitter. She came home and gave me her creation. She said, "Look Mama! A mariposa for you!" She created a gorgeous, colorful butterfly whose vivid oranges, violets and blues are simply glorious! Did she overhear me mention the dream to my husband? Doubtful, but I suppose it is possible. Does it matter? Not at all...

I find a little bit of HOPE to be similar to putting a small amount of food coloring in a glass of water. It does not take much to color the water to an intense hue. Hope is the same way. It does not take a lot to transform an existence in to a beautiful, vibrant life regardless if one can perceive the colors or not.

Swimming Blind

http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/devotions/aspin_swimmingblind.aspx

Apocynin

http://www.answers.com/topic/apocynin-1

Apocynin is isolated from both the kurroa and Canadian hemp roots:

http://riverssourcebotanicals.com/index.php

http://www.tattvasherbs.com/liversupport.htm?gclid=CNrUguiYk5UCFQmdnAodZDAFgw

http://www.vitacost.com/Healthnotes/Herb/Picrorhiza.aspx

http://www.vedaliving.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=103

NO Synthase and RP

A possible adjunct to antioxidant therapy in RP which targets the underlying cause of excessive oxidative stress in the retina..

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med/browse_thread/thread/d8c985e6ae69eed9

Antioxidants in Combination Fight RP

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17293057?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum