The Story of Baseball Player Michael When He Gets Injured and Loses Sight - Essay Example

?Eye Will Always Be With You Eye Will Always Be With You: Michael has everything going for him in life until his world is turned upside down, and thejourney that he goes on is one that he never imagined was possible. Act I Because of his status as a famous baseball player, Michael is one of the most instantly recognizable faces around town. Finding girls is not a problem since they often come to him. Despite his reputation for being a flirt, Michael currently has a beautiful girlfriend, Stephanie. Michael also has had the luxury of growing up in a wealthy family, so money has never been an issue when it comes to pursuing his dreams. However, despite all his fame and fortune, Michael feels incredibly lonely at times. His father, Phil, is virtually never around home because he spends a large part of the year traveling around the world as a symphony orchestra conductor. Up until now, Phil has been able to make up for his long absences with expensive gifts from the four ends of the earth. On the other hand, Michael’s mother, Sarah, is completely the opposite type of character; she is very weak physically as a result of a recent stroke. As such, Sarah cannot travel as much as Phil does. Despite her limitations, Sarah is a strong-willed woman who tries her best to keep Michael in check. Because of their close proximity to each other, Michael and his mother have a close yet sometimes fractured relationship. To make up for her lack of mobility, Sarah has made use of Julia, who works as a servant around the family home. Life for Michael couldn’t be better when tragedy strikes – he suffers a facial injury during a baseball game that could result in the loss of sight in both or one of his eyes. At first, Michael does not know what to think. Ever since he was a young child, his goal was to become a professional in one of the bigger leagues. If he cannot recover from this injury, his lifelong dream may be in jeopardy. After flying to a specialist eye hospital many hours away, the doctor examines Michael and then informs him of some depressing news – Michael has suffered massive internal bleeding that has the potential to threaten his long-term eyesight. However, there is one small ray of hope that Michael clings onto for dear life. It might be possible for him to have an operation to regain his eyesight, but only after his internal bleeding is cured. This is a process that may take up to two years and is a long shot at best. Act II Although Michael still hopes that he will regain his eyesight, common sense tells him that he should just forget about it. Thoughts like these continue to consume Michael to the point where he feels like abandoning his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. During this time, Sarah feels as though Michael needs some kind of extra support, so she suggests that he goes to see a counselor. Michael does not appreciate this suggestion, as he feels like that would only make him feel worse. Even though Michael does not take up his mother’s offer, he at least has the decency to listen to the encouragement that she has to give him. Sarah feels heartbroken that her son may not be able to function fully in society, let alone baseball, because she truly understands what it is like to not be able to participate in everyday ordinary activities. Michael’s fear is that if he is not able to regain his eyesight, his father might think less of him. Phil is someone who sets high standards not only for himself, but for everyone else around him. For Michael, being unable to live up to the kind of person that his father is would be a huge letdown. Just as Michael’s state of mind is improving, his world comes crashing down once again – his girlfriend, Stephanie, leaves him due to his lack of sight. Michael is always very self-conscious of his blindness, but to be tossed away like a dead tree branch really hits him hard. Before his injury, Michael had become engaged to Stephanie, and they were in the process of planning their wedding when he lost his eyesight. This just further drives a dagger into his heart, and some of his thoughts turn suicidal. Sarah is dismayed at this dramatic turn of events, and she attempts to comfort him during this difficult time. However, Michael lets his inner emotions come out and he constantly shouts at her for the encouragement she attempts to give him. Everything comes to a head when Michael’s mother decides to hatch a plan to get Michael back on the right path. She says, “you have been very selfish and weak when responding to this injury, and I only have three commands to give you each day when you wake: get up, eat food, and go to sleep.” For the next year, Sarah repeats this short phrase everyday. Surprisingly, Phil is extremely positive about the whole situation, as he sends a record of Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” that he personally conducted. Michael’s father asks Julie, the servant, if she would mind playing this track everyday for his son to listen. On the recording, Phil offers a message to Michael by saying that Beethoven was able to produce many great pieces of music despite his blindness. The world will always be bright for Michael no matter if he regains his eyesight or not. As Michael begins to soften to the idea of being permanently blind, he understands how much his parents still love him despite his handicap. A sense of guilt starts to develop, and Michael wants to apologize to his mother for the way that he has been treating her throughout his ordeal. However, he does not yet have the courage to admit that he was wrong. It will take some time before Michael arrives at the place where he can reunite fully with his mother. Act III Now that Michael has accepted his fate, he begins to explore other career options. He has always enjoyed playing the piano, and this is something that only requires the use of his hands and ears. One day out of the blue, Michael receives a phone call from the doctor who first treated him after his injury. The news is good – Michael can now undergo the operation to restore his sight, and the chances of success are surprisingly high. An appointment is made for the soonest time available to operate. After only a couple of weeks, the doctor performs the surgery. Michael feels a little nervous due to the small risks involved, but he is mostly excited that he may regain his eyesight. Once Michael wakes from his operation, a bright shining light, as though it were the sun, comes beaming down into Michael eyes! He can now see again. A sudden sense of relief comes over Michael, and he begins to read anything he can set his eyes upon around the hospital. The happiness that Michael feels is indescribable. Right there at that moment he realized that it was his parents who kept him going all this time when there seemed as though there was little hope. As soon as Michael gets the go-ahead to leave hospital, he takes the fastest flight back to the family home. When he gets there, only the servant, Julia, is waiting there for him. The sight of this leaves Michael’s heart racing – what could have possibly happened to his mother. Michael knows for sure that she does not travel too much due to the effects of her stroke, so he is perplexed why she is nowhere to be seen. After questioning Julia, she informs him that his mother died almost a year ago and it was only a recording of her voice that he was listening to each day. Sarah’s dying wish, though, was that Michael would regain his eyesight, and she thought that the pain of losing his mother would cause Michael to sink into a depression even further. Michael is distraught, and he comes to the conclusion that it would be better for him to still be blind and have his mother around rather than being able to see and his mother deceased. Michael’s lifelong ambition did not seem to matter anymore; he has lost someone who was his closest confidant and friend, and this person could not be replaced. Read More