HK

Back in 4th grade, in an English textbook, I read about Helen Keller.

I was amazed.

It was the first time I had heard of her and her story.  This child born healthy contracted a disease which left her deaf and blind by the age of 19 months.  What chance did she have for a normal life?  None by most of our standards.  And yet she persevered.

Here was a woman…a child really, that fought through adversity…with every strike in the book against her,  and grew into a successful author, lecturer and political activist.  She graduated from Radcliffe of all places – becoming the first deaf and blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. 

The movie The Miracle Worker, was a wonderful portrayal to me of the darkness Helen endured.  It was beyond my young mind’s comprehension.  I was perhaps 10 years old and had no reference for such a human plight.  I didn’t know anyone who was blind or deaf…and if I had, I’m sure I would’ve been afraid of them, as so many of us are by things we don’t quite understand.

What was it like to live in darkness?  Without sound?  It was, in my imagination, the worst kind of prison.  How does one communicate?  Or feel inside?  I hadn’t a clue.

I had at one point when discussing Helen Keller back then, said that she was my idol.  I suspect I didn’t really understand what I was saying…I certainly didn’t want to “be like her”…but I respected her courage and her rise above it all…and I was awe struck by it.  It blew my young mind that this was possible…that people could beat that which held them down, that they could create a good life out of the ashes of illness and darkness.  It still causes me to shake my head in wonder.

She is known for many wonderful, inspiring quotes….the beginning of the following is well known and one of my personal favorites.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.

It speaks to what I believe to be true about life….it is either daring or it is nothing.  Life is not secure – and believing it is so is nothing short of delusion.  I would like to be as brave as Helen – although I suspect none of us ever know how brave we can be until we are met with adversity.  She has been gone for awhile now, but I hope her story lives on in other 4th grade textbooks for today’s children to read about with appreciation for the gift of health and blue skies.