The, "Honoring Helen Keller" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading some of the quotes that I have found that are attributed to Helen Keller.  She was an amazing woman who became deaf and blind at the age of two and faced unimaginable challenges.  She became a trailblazing advocate for disability rights; and the first person who was deaf and blind to earn a college degree in the United States.  She graduated in 1904 during an era when woman were outnumbered by men in higher education when the disability rights movement was just beginning to pick up steam.  Helen was a master of multiple forms of communication and achieved a life of activism on behalf of people with disabilities, women, Black people and other socially sidelined groups.  

Hellen Keller

Helen lectured throughout the United States and abroad which brought international celebrity to her.  She lectured throughout the United States and abroad and authored 14 books, including a famous memoir titled "The Story Of My Life", that was published in 1905.  Her book was translated into 50 languages and remains in print today.  She embraced the limelight in order to campaign for fair treatment and equal rights  for everyone, regardless of gender, race, or disability.  She believed true happiness came from helping and working in partnership with others.  She wrote that "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."  Helen was a proponent of hope and courage in the face of adversity, and her words continue to inspire.  Check out the following well-known and poignant statements attributed to her....

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.

I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness.  It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is on safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure. or nothing.

No. pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted island, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

Despite facing many challenges, Helen lived a life full of meaning and happiness before her death in 1968 at age 87.  Keller's words endure today as a beacon of hope and possibility.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.