Morning Friend,

It's 4:54 Idaho time & I just finished up the first 4 chapters of our Freedom Crusaders book of the month for August, 'The Story Of My Life' by Helen Keller.

Her name and story have been mentioned in books I've read over the years as a way to inspire people that even without the ability to see or hear, greatness is possible.

I'm excited to learn more about this unique and remarkable soul.

Anyway, I figured I'd pass along a few nuggets from my reading, here in this email.

I learned that Helen Keller and I share the same birthday, June 27th (different year of course) ;-) she being born in 1890.

She was born, a normal child, but lost her sight and hearing at the age of 19 months to a 'fever' that came upon her.

My own mother lost her hearing as young girl during a bout with Scarlet Fever as a child.

Helen describes the sickness that came upon her in 'the dreary month of February' that 'closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new-born baby.'

During her sickness she opened her eyes in 'agony and bewilderment' and turned them to the wall, 'away from the once-loved light, which came dim, and yet more dim each day.'

Can you imagine Friend?

To be able to see the faces of your loved ones and hear their voices one moment, and for it all to be gone the next?

This seems to me, an event that would surely and justifiably plunge one into the depths of despair.

'Gradually I got used to the silence and the darkness that surrounded me and forgot that it had ever been different, until she came, -- my teacher -- who was to set my spirit free.

I'm struck by those lines Friend, are you?

A teacher - was able to set her spirit free?

Not with medicine, not with surgery, not with a miraculous healing...

With what then?

She goes on to explain how her parents brought her to Washington to meet with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.

Side note about her parents: Of her father's passing she wrote 'This was my first great sorrow -- my first personal experience with death.'

Keep in mind by this time, she had already suffered the lost of sight and sound and all the beauties of life that come with those 2 magical gifts that so many of us, so often take for granted.

Shouldn't this have been her first great sorrow?

No. It was the passing of her beloved father.

What a great reminder of how we might do better, in treasuring our loved ones.

According to Helen Keller, they're more precious to us than our eyes and ears.

And of her mother...

'How shall I write of my mother? She is so near to me that it almost seems indelicate to speak of her.'

What a touching sentiment of deep love, respect and gratitude peers at us, from behind that simple sentence.

I remember the care and love my mom showed me when I had various bouts of the flu as a child.

Or the many sacrifices she made taking me to my baseball practices, after finishing up a long day of work, only to sit outside and watch me play until I was finished each night.

Can you imagine the love, care, attention that must have been shown to Helen, by her mother, throughout this ordeal?

My mom speaks in similar ways of her mother, who was her champion, teacher and friend, when she lost her hearing.

Doesn't the unconditional love of a mother, give us a special glimpse into divinity Friend?

Ok back from the side note, to the main one:

Of her meeting with Dr. Bell, she writes,

"I did not dream that that interview would be the door through which I should pass from darkness into light, from isolation to friendship, companionship, knowledge, love."

It was through Dr. Bell that they found someone to teach Helen.

Of the arrival of her teacher, she says...

"Thus I came up out of Egypt and stood before Sinai, and a power divine touched my spirit and gave it sight, so that I beheld many wonders. And from the sacred mountain I heard a voice which said, "Knowledge is love and light and vision."

So even though this young girl was unable to see with her physical eyes, or hear with her ears... somehow, someway, her spirit was set free and was able to see...

With some sort of divine 'vision' she was able to experience love and see light again...

What form of strange voo doo magic was this Friend?

We have only her words as a clue.

Knowledge.  

...the secret passkey, delivered by her teacher, that unlocked the doors and the chains of her prison and set her 'spirit free.'

Can it do the same for us Friend?

Perhaps a question we each must ask and answer for ourselves.

Upward and onward,

Paul Hutchings