Ave Maria! It was shortly after I began to lose my hearing at the age of seven that I first learned about Helen Keller. Ever since, she has been one of my real-life heroes. What an amazing, indomitable woman! She was such an angry, rebellious child, and for good reason, too, given the enormous losses of her sight and hearing. I was pretty mad myself when I was introduced to her. My mother had recently died, I was losing my hearing, and I wasn't seeing very well. Being so young and unknowledgeable, I feared that I was going blind, but eventually glasses resolved that problem. I took comfort in Helen's ability to cope with and overcome her disadvantages and resolved to imitate her strength and courage the best I could. She was a bright shining star who lit up the darkness of my fears with hope. If she could do it, so could I! If God had helped her, He would help me! Surely He would provide me with an Anne Sullivan, and so He did -- even more than one.
No, thanks be to God, I didn't totally lose all my hearing, only enough to make life rather difficult for me, particularly in school where I ran into some pretty mean teachers who never should have been allowed into a classroom. But I also met some of the kindest, most understanding teachers who accepted me as I was while encouraging and challenging me to keep rising above myself and my limitations. These wise and wonderful women loved me and believed in me, which was something I was unable to do for myself at that time. And, when necessary, they went to bat for me at the highest level possible, making sure that those teachers who put me down did not hold me back. I remain grateful to these good women and think of them often.
I still think of Helen Keller, too, and continue to draw upon her wisdom. Yesterday I came across this lovely piece that apparently appeared in Redbook magazine once upon a time. I don't know when, and I'm not familiar with Frazier Hunt, the writer, -- will have to save that search for another time -- who captures so beautifully the heart and soul of a truly extraordinary woman.
Blessed be God, who heals all our ills!
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One July afternoon at our ranch in the Canadian Rockies I rode toward Helen Keller’s cabin. Along the wagon trail that ran through a lovely wood we had stretched a wire, to guide Helen when she walked there alone, and as I turned down the trail I saw her coming.
I sat motionless while this woman who was doomed to live forever in a black and silent prison made her way briskly down the path, her face radiant. She stepped out of the woods into a sunlit open space directly in front of me and stopped by a clump of wolf willows. Gathering a handful, she breathed their strange fragrance: her sightless eyes looked up squarely into the sun, and her lips, so magically trained, pronounced the single word “Beautiful!” Then, still smiling, she walked past me.
I brushed the tears from my own inadequate eyes. For to me none of this exquisite highland had seemed beautiful. I had felt only bitter discouragement over the rejection of a piece of writing. I had eyes to see all the wonders of woods, sky and mountains, ears to hear the rushing stream and the song of the wind in the treetops. It took the sightless eyes and sealed ears of this extraordinary woman to show me beauty, and bravery.
~Frazier Hunt, from Redbook magazine
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