He keeps them closed and the story ends brilliantly: “My eyes were still closed. I was at my house. I knew it. But I didn't feel like I was in anything. “It's really extraordinary.” These lines embody the most important concept of the theme in this story. Without a doubt, a big part of this story is learning to empathize and relate to those you don't know. Too often we make judgments and presumptions about people. We don't know what it means to be like many of the people we judge, and especially when it comes to things like blindness or deafness, we have trouble understanding where these people are coming from. In the end, however, the man is closer to this blind man than he might have been to any other friend in his life before. For a few moments, even less than a minute, man is just like the blind man. His eyes are closed, he is drawing, he is feeling, but more important than anything, he is understanding. In that fleeting moment of intimate connection, he and the man are one. Their souls, their collective experiences are united precisely by the strength of this small cathedral