I'm Not Lost by
Abraham Nemeth Ph.D.

Abraham Nemeth is a blind mathematics professor and a long-time leader in the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan.  Here he relates a humorous incident which reminds us that ingrained patterns of thought are hard to break—even when they make no sense at all.  This is how he tells it:

Before coming to Detroit to teach mathematics at the University of Detroit, I lived in New York City well into my young adult years. Since I first lived in Manhattan and then in Brooklyn, and since I had friends in other parts of the city, I soon became familiar with the entire subway system, the bus routes, and the trolley car routes throughout the city.

One day I was on an errand in mid Manhattan. Being familiar with my surroundings, I moved easily from place to place. Two young men with western twangs, who were obviously lost, approached me and asked directions to the Museum of Natural History. From their accents, it was clear that they were tourists. I proceeded to give them very clear and precise directions to the Museum.

When I finished, the two men hesitated for a moment, took one or two steps away from me, and one of them said to the other: “We better ask someone else; that man is blind.” Whereupon I took a step in their direction and, facing them, said: “It is true that I am blind, but I’m not the one who is lost.”

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