Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 6:38 P.M.
Immunity Challange #6 This was a tough IC to get a handle on. So many different ways you could go with it. The following is the way I chose to go. I hope you will find it interesting. The Challenge: Write a story entitled "The Brilliant Silence."
The Brilliant Silence
Many people are noted and admired for things they have said. Some people are remembered for songs they have sung but one of the people I have always admired, lived in virtual silence.
Her name was Helen Keller. Born in 1880, she was a normal healthy child. Tragedy struck in the form of an undiagnosed illness when she was only 19 months old, leaving her deaf and blind.
Perhaps you remember the story, The Miracle Worker. It portrayed her and her teacher, Anne Sullivan and was basically the story of her realization of words and how to use them at the age of 7. Until that point, as the story goes, she was an angry, unruly child. She was impossible to deal with up to that point.
The story ends there in the movie. There is, I think, an epilog that tells very briefly that Helen went on to become a very bright and educated woman. The movie really didn�t do her justice. It left out, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.
In 1900 at the age of 20, she entered Radcliff as the first blind, deaf person to ever enroll in college. Three years later she published her first book, �The Story of My Life�. She went on to write �The World I Live In� and Out of the Dark� in the years to come.
In 1904 Helen became the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
In the years that followed, she became a mouthpiece for the disabled, touring the world. Because she lost her hearing at such a young age, she never really learned to speak clearly, though she tried. She was an esteemed voice of advocacy for the blind. Her fundraisers were endless to raise money to change their living conditions and educational opportunities. She did this right up until she suffered a stroke at the age of 81. Shortly after, in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor that can be awarded to a civilian in the United States. A year later, she was inducted into the Women�s Hall of Fame.
By this time, Anne Sullivan had passed away and Helen then shared her life with Polly Thompson and finally Winnie Corbally, who took care of her death.
She passed away quietly in 1968 at the age of 88.
Helen Keller was a remarkable lady that proved that deed, not the clear spoken word is what we are remembered for. She lived her life to the fullest, never wavering. Her world, though silent was full and rich.
Yes, she was the epitome of �Brilliant Silence�. It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal. � Helen Keller
Later,
Cosmic
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