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Blind To Failure By Erik Weihenmayer

425 Words2 Pages

In “Blind to Failure”, Erik Weihenmayer has many good character traits. Particularly he is extraordinary, brave, and very committed. To begin, Erik proves himself to be extraordinary when he decides to take on a great challenge, disregarding his disability, and his reasoning was “I knew that if I went and failed, that would feel better if I didn’t go at all.”(277) I consider this to be extraordinary because not only does he climb Everest, but he is also blind. Additionally, in the excerpt, Erik mentions how he does not let his disability hold him back. Ordinarily, a blind man doesn’t choose an intricate, complex task because they rely on patterns, but Erik decides to take on a task that almost guarantees to need sight. Second, I characterize …show more content…

When Erik lost his sense of sight, he went through denial. Erik would not use Braille and refused to get a cane because he was embarrassed of something he could not control. This may seem minor to people who cannot understand what he went through, but making this transition was immense to his everyday lifestyle. Not only did Erik return to a lifestyle that became his new normal, he also found ways to use his loss as an advantage. Erik says “I realized that I could take sighted people and slam them down on the mat.”(276). This shows how brave Erik is because not only did he overcome something that was holding him back, he also found a way to fit in. Undoubtedly, Erik is a wildly committed man. Erik gives positive encouragement to his team throughout the whole trip. Surely, this is an example of him being committed because he must have been terrified, but he pushed it aside and encouraged the rest of the team. “ He was the the heart and soul of the team. The guys spirit won’t let you quit.”(274) said Eric Alexzander, a climbing partner. He also shows how committed he is when he explains how being carried to the top of the mountain is not what he wants. He describes that even though he is bloody and does not feel well, he would still be a fully useful member of the

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