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I'm Jeff Parrot. Sometimes what we choose to not see reveals more about us than what

we do see. During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 British naval forces faced off against a smaller Danish fleet.

And one of the British naval officers in command of a ship that day was named Horatio Nelson.

Nelson was a vice-admiral who happened to be blind in one eye.

As the battle raged on, an order came from Nelson's senior commander to retreat.

That order for retreat was sent to ships throughout the fleet using

signal flags that had to be viewed through a telescope.

Now, this command to retreat graded against the preferences of Horatio Nelson.

He wanted to continue the fight.

So when he looked toward the orders to retreat, he held his telescope up to his blind eye.

Historians cite him as saying,

I have a right to be blind sometimes.

I really do not see the signal.

When Nelson held the telescope up to his blind eye he willfully

dismissed the order of his senior officer to retreat. In choosing to not see

something he maintained a kind of self-proclaimed authority that ignored the authority of his commander.

His actions are the origin story for a popular phrase most of us know today, turning a blind eye.

When we turn a blind eye towards something or someone,

we willfully look away from reality right in front of us.

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