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Hellen Keller

A Genius in A Lockup

When Hellen Keller was born on June 27, 1880, she was like any other normal baby. Her parents, landowners inpost Civil War Alabama were very proud of her. In their eyes, she was after all their intelligent child who could

speak How do you do? at 6 months old. However, that started to change after she contracted scarlet fever at19 months in February 1882. When she was rescued from the brink of death, little Hellen could no longerrespond to the dinner bell rings or flashes of her mothers hand in front of her eyes.

It thus became apparent that her illness has left her to be blind and deaf. And as she became further withdrawninto her own silent world, she began to lose her speech as well.

Losing her ability to communicate with her parents reduced Hellen Keller to a state of frustration and anger.

She became a difficult child, throwing dishes and lamps on the floor, yelling and throwing tantrums. That

behaviour gradually worsened as her parents became too soft hearted and refused to discipline her. Relatives

thought she should be sent to a mental institution. Yet this girl turned out to be one of the worlds greatestinspirational stories!

Despite her relatives claims, Hellen Keller displayed abilities that seemed to suggest that she was sound. Bythe time she was 5, she could use more than 60 customized hand gestures to communicate meanings of

Mother, Father etc. Believing that her child could be educated, her mother brought Hellen to Alexander

Graham Bell on the advice from a specialist doctor. Alexander was working with the deaf at that time. It wasthrough his contacts that a private tutor was eventually engaged to coach Helen. She was none other than Anne

Sullivan.

Just Like Any Other Kid

At that time, Anne Sullivan had just graduated from the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and the offer tobe Hellens private tutor was like rain in the drought as she had been trying to find work for a long time.Suffering from poor eyesight herself, Anne saw in Hellen what others couldnt. To her, she was like just any

other girl.

Anne tried to control Hellens bad behaviour and correct her table manners. Instead of allowing her to grab food

with her bare hands off other peoples plates, she would train her to eat with a fork sitting down. She would also

make her brush her own hair. Those attempts often led to more protests and tantrums from the young girl,causing Anne to lose her 2 front teeth in the first week.

At the same time, Anne was teaching Helen finger spelling by writing individual letters onto the girls hand.

Although Helen could repeat these hand movements, she didnt really understood what those meant. One fineday in April 5, 1887, all that changed.

Anne led Hellen down the path to the well house, held her hand under a running water pump and wrote the

words w-a-t-e-ron her palms. As the cool stream gushed against her hands, Hellen felt a sudden awareness as

the mystery of language unveiled in her new founded consciousness. Anne was immediately asked to spell the

name of the pump and many other objects Hellen touched in the path, including her own name. By the end ofthe day, Helen had already learned 30 new words. 3 months later, she picked up 300.

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New Founded Fame

As Anne and Hellens bond grew, friends, family and even neighbours were greatly astonished at the change inthat young lady, calling it a miracle. It was not long before news of her accomplishments spread across the

country that she got to visit many famous personalities such as Alexander Graham Bell (again) and president

Grover Cleveland. By the time she was 12, Hellen was world famous, with renowned people such as EnglandsQueen Victoria, Mark Twain, Queen Olga of Greece etc openly declaring theiradmiration for the young ladys

spirit.

By 1890, she was living at Perkins Institute, being taught by Anne and spending several winters. During her

stay there, she learned ferociously and picked up knowledge not only pertaining to her own language but also in

Greek, French and Latin. She also aspired to attend college and intentionally did her high school education inCambridge so that she could be physically near her dream school, Radcliffe, the sister college to Harvard.

Going to College

As the school in Cambridge was not catered for the blind nor the deaf, Hellen Keller worked doubly hard and

diligently prepared for her entrance exams. However, it was not without challenge. Worried that the girl might

not be able to handle the stress, the headmaster forcibly separated Helen from Anne when the latter refuted hisadvice to refrain from pushing Helen too hard and lowering her expectations. He also wrote to Hellens mother,

accusing Anne of trying to damage her daughters health. It was only when Mrs Keller got to listen to Hellensside of the story before the 2 were reunited. Hellen also withdrew from Cambridge and prepared her exams

independently.

Hellen encountered another setback in her bid to get into Radcliffe. Despite passing the entrance exams withflying colours, on the grounds that the workload would prove to be too heavy for a deaf and blind student, her

admission request to the class of 1899 was rejected. Though she was devastated, Helen was determined to get

into Radcliffe, even at the extent of rejecting Cornell University and the University of Chicagos acceptance

offers and full scholarships.

She did very well in the next years entrance exams and was finally admitted to the class of 1900. During her

years in college, she wrote her memoir, The Story of My Life and eventually went on to graduate on June 28,1904 with a honours Bachelor of Arts degree. Although the book sold poorly at first, it later turned out to be a

classic.

A True Blue Risk Taker

Despite her disabilities, Hellen dared herself to take up a lot of adventures such as horse riding, cycling,swimming and even camping that any other able bodied person would take up. She expressed controversial

political thoughts in her essays, went up to the vaudeville stage to demonstrate her first understanding of the

word water and answer questions fielded by the audience on her struggles, with Anne acting as her interpreter.

In 1918, after she moved to Forest Hills in New York, Helen started on her extensive fund raising campaigns

for the American Foundation for the Blind using her new home as a base. In the process she traveled around theworld, visiting many famous personalities such as the Emperor of Japan, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill etc

effectively helping to raise public awareness on the issues faced by the disabled.

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Anne died in 1936. To commemorate the death of her friend, Hellen started to work on Annes biography, only

to lose it to a fire in 1946 when it was almost completed. She rewrote it again and in 1955, published Teacher :Anne Sullivan Macy.

On June 1, 1968, after Hellen died peacefully in her sleep, she was buried next to Anne at the NationalCathedral in Washington, D.C.

What Did I Learn From This Story?That one can read all the literature, visit all the countries and view all the scenery he wants with his eyes, but

without vision, his life amounts to nothing. One can listen to all the speeches of powerful people or harmonious

music for all he desires, but without hearing his own creative thoughts, he will achieve nothing.

(1) The Importance of A Good Mentor

Have you ever been placed in a position where you cant imagine what itll be like if a particular person didnt

appear into your life? Anne Sullivan was an excellent example of agood mentor. Not only did she take great

pains well she lost 2 front teeth, isnt it? to teach Helen social etiquette, she went the extra mile to

encourage creative thinking by relating the wordsw-a-t-e-r

with the physical touch of gushing water.

She wasnt just doing her job and taking a salary. She was there to change a life. Hellen Kellers.

Yes, she might have viewed harsh in the process, so much so that the headmaster in Cambridge complained,

but a good mentors words may be harsh at times but those are said with your welfare at heart. Most of the time,its not the words that are hurtful, its your reactions to his words that make it so. Think through what your

mentor said, and constantly question them. Is it true? Or has he missed a point?

A good mentor is able to see your attributes and help you to explore them. If youre not willing to trust him just

like he believe in you, that lopsided relationship is eventually going to take its toll and crumble.

(2) Life is either a Daring Adventure or Nothing ~ Hellen Keller

Thats one of the famous Helen Keller quotes. Its easy to quote them. But practicing it?

One of the reasons why risk taking is often deemed to be inappropriate is because people often associate it with

uncertainty. To them, uncertainty is bad and is likely to bring failure. But the truth is, if you start assuming a bitof risk, the downside is only losing what you had put in while the upside can be limitless.

A financial advisor used to be an audit manager in one of the large international audit firms and gave it all up to

pursue a career in financial advisory. Now, he enjoys great financial abundance from his new founded career

and most importantly he got what he had always wanted when he was in audit. Freedom to spend time with hisfamily whenever and wherever he likes. He lost a JOB, but gain much more in return.

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