The Blind Electrician
Blind Electrician With Talent
One of the strangest things I've ever seen is a blind electrician. I used to be a manager for a local Christian Men’s Home. And during those 7 years I saw many strange things. But the blind electrician who occasionally helped us out at the shelter took the cake. He happened to be my younger brother, Mike.
Mike was born legally blind but he never let that stand in his way. Although he could barely see, he made up for it with an unusually high IQ and determination. These were qualities I could use around a homeless shelter with little funding.
Saved Us Money
His talents saved us a lot of money over the years, but I’d say the most memorable experience had to be the time he had to repair an outdated industrial air conditioner someone had donated sometime in the facilities’ murky past. It was so old you couldn’t get parts for it anymore. It was located in the buildings’ dining facility.
We housed approximately 30 residents at any given time. Of those 30, all were “experts” at something. So it came as no surprise when a self proclaimed heating and air conditioning specialist in our midst offered to fix it for us. We figured it was already broken and couldn’t lose anything by letting him try. So we turned him loose on the project.
Completed Job In 1 Hr.
Two days later he announced his success and told us to try it out. Our director turned it on and it worked…for 2 minutes! It shut down in a cloud of white smoke. The “professional” slunk back to his room in embarrassment.
However, I still had an ace up my sleeve…Brother Mike. I gave him a call and he agreed to look at it. Mike came and I led him to the ancient ruin of an air conditioner. I left him there with his tools knowing the project was in capable hands.
It was less than an hour when Mike notified me the job was completed and the system was up and running. It continued running for several more years. Our resident “professional” didn’t come out of his room for days. Who could blame him…being shown up by a blind man!
There was also another time Mike came to our rescue. Our prehistoric industrial stove and oven went on the fritz and quit working. The shelter’s brain trust of rocket scientists went to work trying to solve the problem without any success. Again, Mike did his magic, rewiring and replacing worn out controls and parts. The appliance was ready to make our evening meal. He returned a few days later and also installed a fire suppression system in the kitchen.
Mike was asked by our “experts” how he was able to fix everything being blind. His answer was, “What’s the matter…you guys blind or something”?
