OPERATION EYES CLOSED: A DAY WITHOUT WRITING

I thought that Operation Eyes Closed would be an interesting assignment to try, and interesting it was. On a day-to-day basis I had no idea how much writing I actually read doing just basic things such as walking to class, picking TV shows, and of course ordering food. For 12 hours on Sunday, I didn’t do any reading for school (which was great) and also hardly communicated with anyone outside of my house because I “couldn’t” read my text messages, or even use Facebook. Walking to campus to run some errands it was a real effort to look at signs along Telegraph and try to ignore what they said.

I also went to have Thai food at Berkeley Thai House. I had to rely on others in the group who “could” read to get us there. Fortunately, one side of the menu was written in English and the other half in Thai so we covered the English half and really struggled with trying to figure out something to order (there was no way to cheat here!). Being a vegetarian that doesn’t eat meat or seafood I just had to ask what was vegetarian. The waitress who spoke very little English had difficulty understanding, and the only visual indicator on the menu was a small chili to indicate a spicy dish. I definitely didn’t want a meal that I couldn’t eat so I ordered Pad Thai with tofu, a dish I’d had delivered before, just to be safe. I would imagine that in places where there aren’t pictures, in order to avoid embarrassment or confusion people who are illiterate would likely do something similar.

All day I was fortunate enough to do things familiar to me and in familiar areas, and even that was difficult. However, as I’ve experienced with family members who come from a different country and don’t speak English, being illiterate is stressful. Of course, a person would come to recognize basic words and even places, but it limits a persons ability to go about their business stress-free. They would likely do the same things, order the same things, and stay in familiar areas because anything else is a very drawn out and stressful process.

Through an experiment like this, it was shocking to see how dependent our society is on the written word. While struggling with ordering food and not being able read or communicate with friends was annoying, I realized that some people go through this every day of their lives. Unfortunately, the consequences can often be more severe than just ordering a bad dish at a restaurant, but an experiment like this was definitely eye-opening to how fortunate we are to be literate and able to function with relative ease in our society.