Be Inspired

Be Inspired

Books are your friends, or so I was told growing up. My favorite book as a child was “The Story of Anne Sullivan”. I found it in the library of Riverside elementary school. I had to find a book for a report when I had summer school. I was always curious. I wanted to know how other people lived. I was the baby of the family and was raised by my single mother. She worked hard to provide for my two half-brothers and me. My mom never had time to read to me and when I finally learned to read, it opened my eyes to a new world. I always gravitated toward biographies. The story of Anne Sullivan was one that I loved. Anne was a teacher to Helen Keller. Helen Keller was an American teacher, author and advocate for people with disabilities. Helen was also co-founder of the ACLU.

The story of Anne Sullivan is not only about Anne but Helen Keller as well. Anne was a miracle worker when it came to teaching the blind. Helen was born seeing and hearing. When she was almost two years old she got what they used to call “brain fever” they are not sure exactly what illness she had. The result of the illness was the loss of her sight and hearing. This also left her with limited communication skills. This is where Anne Sullivan came into the picture.

Anne was left her partially blind as an eye disease and this gave her insights that no other teacher would possess. I love her story because she didn’t let her limitations stop her from achieving her goals. She was known as a “Miracle worker” because of what she was able to accomplish with Helen. Though Helen’s parents was skeptical of Anne’s methods. Her methods often seemed very harsh and often caused conflicts with Helen’s parents. Hellen Keller became of the most famous blind and deaf people in our history.

Anne first had to retrain Helen to do everything. She would force her to sit at the table and eat with her utensils and not like a savage animal. Helen had to take baby steps and Anne had the patience of a saint. Repetition was how it worked. Hellen would have to repeat her actions and use sign language, spelling words that she was communicating in her hand. Over and over she would sign words into her hand then give her the tangible object and try to communicate that the object in her hand was the same word she signed into her other hand.

One day as this story tells she went to the outside water well and she would pump the water into her hands and with the other hand she was sign the W. A. T. E. R into her other hand. This time, Helen understood for the first time what was happening. From that day onward Helen was a sponge. She took everything in and then later learned Braille. One letter at a time became a word that started to become sentences and finally told a story that we can enjoy forever.

It amazes me how people can overcome difficulties if given the tools. Reading this book as a first grader I felt like I had accomplished something. This book was the first book I could not put down until I finished it. I was happy to give my report because Anne and Helen’s story changed me. Before this, I did not know that books could have that impact on my life. I was in summer school because the teachers said I could not read. It was not that I could not read, it was that I did not know how to blend the sounds of the words together. I was called “latchkey kid” back in the 1970’s. No one was home when I came back from school. I didn’t have someone at home to help me with homework.

Stories of real people, who struggle with real issues, and was able to overcome. This story has stayed with me over the years and truly an inspiration. Let books change you too. Pick one up today and be inspired.