Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life

by Amy E. Herman

An elderly blind man was sitting on a busy street corner at rush hour begging for money. He had a cardboard sign next to his tin cup that read: BLIND. PLEASE HELP. The cup was empty. A young advertising copywriter walked by and saw the blind man, his sign, and his empty cup, and noted that people walked right past him unmoved. She took a pen from her pocket, turned the cardboard sign around, and scribbled a new message on the back. She left it with the blind man and went on her way. Immediately, people began putting donations in his cup. When it was overflowing, the blind man asked a stranger to tell him what the sign now said. “It reads: IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” the stranger said. “YOU CAN SEE IT. I CANNOT.”