From ‘Eudora Welty: Photographs,’ found at home today:

“The greatest thing a human soul ever ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.  Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, and thousands can think for one who can see.  To see clearly is poetry, philosophy, and religion - all in one.

If the claim seems excessive, if you think most men and women are visually attentive, test yourself soon in a pulic place.  Sit on a bench apart from the movement and watch for a while.  Barring a sudden wreck or fight, you’re more than likely to see that most people move with a fuctional near-blindness, especially in cities.  every now and then, a watcher appears - the man who pauses to study a legless beggar, the woman who crouches to speak with a stray cat.  But the mass are safe, from surprise and discovery, in the opque tubes down which they hurry.  More than once I’ve spotted a famous face in a crowd - in an airport, say, and a glamorous face that looked exactly like its world-famed self - and no one else even glimpsed its passing.”