I’ve been listening to Helen Keller’s autobiography this week. What a story! It is unbelievable how well-educated and deeply read she is. Her expressive vocabulary is twice that of mine – a seeing, hearing fellow. I mean, I knew that she is on the Alabama quarter but I did not know that she lived to 88, which makes her a contemporary of mine by three years, and I did not know that she was born with vision and hearing, but that illness robbed her of these before her second birthday. I also did not know that she became fluent in German and French. Amazing. I found this inspiring:
Is it not true then, that my life with all its limitations touches at many points the life of world beautiful? Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am in, therein to be content.
Helen Keller
I do not compare by measly “limitations” with hers even though we’ve both used that word. I can’t even assign a fraction, but nonetheless I was inspired with the wise words that she wrote at age 22, over 100 years ago.
3 comments:
I'll have to read this. I actually like the idea of listening to it. Great write up.
Helen Keller borrowed a little from Paul in his letter to the Phillipians. It has been one of my favorites scriptures since the MTC. Phillipians 4:11
Yeah she did. You know, she had a whole chapter dedicated to a situation where she was accused of plaigarism from a story she wrote while a teenager. She denies intentionally taking anyone's ideas, but admits that there are way too many similarites between her story and the original. She says that sometimes she's not sure if a thought is her original thouhgt, or influenced by something she read. This is probably an example of that.
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