A Bit Unsettled

(Edit: This post was kind of a knee-jerk reaction I had to a conversation with my girlfriend. The more coherent follow-up is in a later post.)

I was talking on the phone earlier tonight with my girlfriend, who told me about a mistake she made today. She laughed at a classmate when she shouldn't have, causing him to cry. She felt guilty about it, so she told me she was going to wear a sleep shade - basically a blindfold - all day tomorrow as "sensitivity training" for her. She'll be totally blind, instead of partially blind like she normally is.
For some reason, this worries me.
And I'm not sure why it worries me, which unsettles me. Should it even worry me? She'll be the one wearing the darn thing, not me. She'll be the one unable to see anything for the entire day.
Wait, maybe that's why I am worried. Because she will be totally blind for the day.
I'm worried something will happen to her because of something she won't see coming. I'm worried something will go wrong, and she'll get hurt somehow. I worry about her because of her partial blindness, but total blindness is something else. Shucks, I worry about her when there's nothing to worry about.

But, now I have to stop and let logic take over.
First, she's going to be in a controlled environment, with sighted people around as well, who can see danger coming.
Second, she's used to being partially blind, so being totally blind for a day won't be as much of a change for her as it would be for me.
Third, she can always take the blindfold off if something goes wrong. For example, she mentioned vertigo/nausea as possible side effects.
Fourth, she'll have her guide dog with her. He knows what he's doing.
Finally, I might be projecting some of my own anxiety about being blind onto her. I haven't lived all my life with vision out of one eye, like she has. I'm used to seeing out of two eyes, with the benefits associated with that. I like my sight, and I'd be in some trouble if I lost it.
I guess we just have - dare I say it - different perspectives on blindness.

Looking at the situation from my girlfriend's point of view, I can kind of understand her reasoning. The person she laughed at was a new arrival to the guide dog school, and was having a hard time getting around and working with their dog. Her laughing at the honest trouble he was having would be, as she said, evil. She's a kindhearted person, so it's small wonder she would feel guilty for doing something like that, especially if she didn't realize what she was doing at the time. I think the fact that she made him cry probably compounded her guilt. So now, wearing the blindfold for a day would be like spending a day in his shoes, with all the associated difficulties. Although she didn't say so, it sounds like she's doing penance for her sin, albeit an accidental one. Shoot, wearing the blindfold isn't a big deal down there. Her classmates won't notice it much, and the instructors won't mind her wearing it. People on the street might look at her funny, but that's their problem.

I dunno. I'm still worried about her doing that, but not as much now, but I guess that's just how I'll be. It's not like she wouldn't wear it on my account anyway. When she wants to do something, she just does it.
I wonder if she'll post a picture of her wearing the blindfold on Facebook?