Helen Keller was struck by a profound illness at 19 months old and was left to experience life as blind, deaf and mute. Each time that I enter into the story of her life, I try to imagine the profound darkness that must have been her experience. What must it have been like to not be able to hear, see, or communicate in any way? As we were to discover later in life, she was gifted intellectually and very passionate about the world in which she lived. Imagine the darkness and stark reality of living in a world that I can only imagine as a locked cell. What is the mind like when left alone? The primary source of sensory input that Helen was able to experience was that of touch. She could feel things emotionally, physically and spiritually, but had no way to make meaning of this experience, no way of expressing herself, and no way to learn and interact with the world. It is said that after her illness through the age of 7 she did come to learn some 60 signs so that she could communicate with her family and her young friend Martha Washington, who was the daughter of the family cook. I still have a very difficult time imagining how this was possible with the limitations of blindness and deafness. What I am reminded of each time I spend time learning and reading about Helen Keller is her determination and resilience.
Anne Sullivan was a woman that had been through tremendous difficulty. At age 5 she was taken with Trachoma and this left her blind. She came from an abusive Alcoholic family. Her mother died 2 years after her illness and her father abandon her. She grew up in an orphanage in Tweksbury, Mass. She was able to undergo many surgeries over the years and was able to gain some of her sight back. She was hired to move in with the Keller family to be Helen's teacher. The family was really at the end of their rope. Helen was lucky enough to have been born into a family of privilege and they were able to provide for her resources that others may not have been able to have.
Anne and Helen came from different worlds. Both had suffered hardships, but Helen's family wanted to love her and coddle her. They felt so badly about her disability that that was really all they could see? Isn't it interesting that the word "see" comes to mean so much more in this context? Anne had been brought up by the people in the orphanage and was cared for and supported but not enabled in anyway. As I read about her life, those that brought her up did all they could to prepare her to live in the world. They saw her potential, her possibilities, her gifts. What do we see?
When Anne came into the Keller home she had to set some really clear limits with the family. She knew that if Helen was to learn she needed clear boundaries and expectations. She knew that she needed to be called to be all she could be, that she was not to be pitied or sheltered. Anne knew that she was called to prepare Helen for the world around her. With her limited ability for sight she was able to see and believe in Helen's possibilities.
Initially this was very painful for the family, they had a very hard timne coming to know and understand the difference between enabling and respecting one with expectations, and follow through. Helen's passion often translated in willful fits and major disruption to the family. Anne did not let her get away with it. Anne respected Helen enough to not let her behave in a way that was hurtful, disruptive, and kept the world away.
Water is often used in faith traditions as a sign of new life and rebirth. The primary way that Anne was trying to teach Helen to develop language, to communicate, was to spell words our in her hand. She would place Helen's hand on something and then spell it out in her hand. Time went on, day after day, tantrum after tantrum, nothing, no connections made. Yet, Anne did not give up. She knew there was no where else to go, nothing else to turn to, but she also believed it had to be possible.
One day after a tantrum during a family dinner, Helen runs outside. Anne runs after her. The story unfolds and Helen pumps water out of the well, she feels it running over her hand, she feel the coolness of the liquid running through her fingers. Anne takes her hand and spells, W-A-T-E-R. In a moment that must have felt like pure Grace, Helen raises her head, alive with wonder and knowing. She takes Ann's hand, puts it under the pump, the water flows freely, then she spells W-A-T-E-R in her hand. Anne is able to respond with Y-E-S. At this point Helen runs wildly around the yard with Anne in tow, touching things and having her spell then out in her hand. The chasm as been crossed, the bridge between darkness and isolation and the outside world has been found.
God calls us to cross the bridge from where ever it is in our lives that we feel stuck. God calls us to remember that we are all called to know who we are and what we are passionate about. When I enter into this story again and again, I am reminded that we so often "see" limitations where we don't have to. How is it that you are not really looking at the world around you?
Today, I want to really see. I want to really hear. Today, I give thanks for the gift of communication and the ability to make meaning of the world around me.
Gracious God, Thank you for my health and healing. Thank you for the many gifts that surround me. Thank you for the hardship that I have had. With that hardship I continue to grow and learn, I continue to see you in the midst of this life.
Helen grew and flourished. She became an American author, a political activist, and a lecturer. She was the first deaf, blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. With Anne at her side and many others along the way, she lived her life communicating to the world her thoughts and experiences. God is so good.
Where do you see stories of resurrection?
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