If You Give Me Three Days of Light: The Best Collection of Helen Keller

Chapter 1 If You Give Me Three Days of Light (1)
Each of us has read an exciting story in which the protagonist's life is nearing the end of his life.During this period of time, sometimes it feels like a year, and sometimes it feels like a year is like a day.We often like to explore how the dying man spends his last days.Of course, I am referring to those free people who have the right to choose, not to those prisoners whose activities are strictly limited.Stories like this can inspire us and let us know what to do in the same situation.As a dying person, what behaviors, what experiences, what associations should we use to spend those last few hours?When looking back at the past life, we will find out what is happiness and what is regret.

Sometimes, I think that although I am alive today, I may die tomorrow, and this may be a good habit.Such thoughts make life seem particularly worthwhile.Our daily life should be leisurely, vigorous, and observant, and these things tend to disappear slowly in the long flow of time day after day, month after month, and year after year.Of course, there are some people who only know "eat, drink, play, and have fun" all their lives. However, most people will not think this way when they know that death is coming.

In those stories, the protagonist who is about to die is often saved at the last moment because of luck, and because of this, the protagonist has changed his life principles since then, and the meaning of life and its eternal sacredness are more clear than before. value.We can often see some people who live under the shadow of death, but do everything seriously.

However, many people take life for granted.Although we know that there will be a day when death will come, we always think that day is very far away.When we are young and strong, death seems inconceivable, we seldom think about it, and the days seem endless.Therefore, we always waste time on trivial trifles, and we don't even realize that this kind of attitude towards life is really too negative.

Not only that, but presumably we are equally indifferent to the use of all our senses and consciousness.Only the deaf know the value of hearing, only the blind know the joy of seeing.This view applies especially to those who lose their sight and hearing in later life.Those who never suffer the loss of sight and hearing, however, seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties.Their eyes and ears see and hear everything around them dimly, absent-mindedly and indifferently.People often don't value what they have, and only realize how important it is when they lose it; just as we don't realize the benefits of good health until we are seriously ill.

I often say to myself that it would be very meaningful if everyone experienced a period of blind and deaf life when they were young.Darkness will make him cherish light more; silence will make him love sound more.

I often try to ask my sighted friends what they see.

Once a friend of mine came to visit me, she had just returned from a walk in the forest and asked what she had seen.She replied, "I didn't see anything in particular." If I hadn't heard such an answer, I would have doubted it, but now, I don't doubt it, because I already knew that the eyes can't see. something special.

We wonder how it is possible to wander through the forest for more than an hour and find nothing worth noting?As a blind person, I can discover many interesting things just by touch.I feel the symmetry of a delicate leaf and pass my hands lovingly about the smooth bark of silver birch, or the rough bark of a pine.In the spring, I hope to search for new shoots on the branches, looking for the first sign of nature after hibernation.I feel the lovely, velvety petals of a flower and discover its strange curls.Nature thus showed me all kinds of strange things.If I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and can feel the joyful quiver of a bird in full song.I love the feeling of cool spring water running through open fingers.For me, a carpet of fragrant pine leaves or soft grass is more comfortable than the most luxurious Persian rug; Feel the plot of the drama at the touch of your fingertips.

Sometimes I cry inside, let me see this.Because just touching it has already made me feel such great happiness, so how happy it would be if I could see it!However, those who can see the world can't notice anything. The scenery that makes the whole world colorful and the various performances in the world are all taken for granted by them.

Human beings are like this, tend to look down on what we have, and only look at what we don't have.In a world of light, it would be a pity to see sight as a means of convenience rather than as a means of enriching life.If I am lucky enough to be the president of a university, then I will set up a compulsory course "How to Use Your Eyes".The professor should inspire his pupils, and their lives will be enriched and enriched if they can really see clearly what lies before them unnoticed and neglected.The professor should do all he can to awaken those idle, dormant faculties in his students.

Maybe I can imagine, if I have three days to see things, then what I would most like to see.I think when I'm imagining, you should also think about this question, if you only have three days to see, how are you going to use your eyes?What would you most like to see?How would you spend those precious three intervening days if you knew that after nightfall on the third day the sun would never rise in front of you again?
Of course the things I want to see the most are the things that feel most dear to me in my darkest days.You must also want to look at those things that are most dear to you for a long time.For if so, you can carry your impressions of them into the night and never forget them.

If one day, a miracle occurs, I can open my eyes and see things for three days, and then let me go back to the dark world, I will divide these three days into three stages.

First Day

On the first day, I want to see people who are kind, gentle, and loving, and make my life worthwhile.First, I gazed for a long time into the face of my dear teacher, Mrs Anne Sullivan Macy, who came to my house when I was a child and showed me a brand new of the outside world.I don't just look at the outlines of her face, I study that face carefully in order to place her firmly in my memory and look for signs of compassion, tenderness, and patience, because that's what she does. Educate me about this difficult task.I try to see in her eyes the fortitude that made her stand firm in the face of difficulty, and the compassion for humanity that she so often expressed to me.

I don't know how to explore a friend's inner world through the "windows of the soul"—the eyes.I can only feel the contours of a face with the touch of my fingertips.I can feel happiness, sadness and many other obvious expressions.I know my friends by touching their faces.However, I cannot accurately tell their personal characteristics just by touching them.To understand their personalities, of course, through other aspects.Such as through the thoughts they express to me and all the actions they show me.But at the moment, I don't want to get to know those people I know very well. I just want to see them with my own eyes, see their reactions to various thoughts and environments, and capture their eyes and expressions in an instant. response.

I know the people around me well because they have shown me every aspect of themselves through years of contact.However, for those friends who have only met once or infrequently, I have only an incomplete impression, and this impression is from every handshake, I use my fingertips to understand the words from their lips or the words they say on my face. Gently draw down the palm of your hand to get it.

It is much easier for those of you with good eyesight to know a person.As long as you see the other person's subtle expressions, muscle tremors, and hand swaying, you can quickly grasp the basic characteristics of this person.However, have you ever thought about using your eyesight to see the inner qualities of a friend or acquaintance?Don't most people with eyesight just see the outlines of faces at random, and don't they have no progress so far?
For example, can you accurately describe the faces of five good friends?Some people may be able to, but I don't think most people can tell.This conclusion is based on my past experience. I have asked many long-term husbands what color their wives' eyes are, and the husbands have often shown embarrassment and frankly admitted that they did not know.Wives, by the way, also complain all the time that their husbands don't notice their new clothes, hats, and their changing of the room.

We usually think that sighted people can get used to their surroundings quickly, but in fact all they can notice are the amazing and spectacular sights.However, their eyes are lazy even when looking at the most spectacular scenery.Court records show every day how inaccurate the "witness of the eyes" is.One thing is seen by many people in many different ways.Some people see more than others, but few see everything within their range of vision.

Ah, if I could regain my light and see for three days, what would I see?

The first day is bound to be a tense one.I'm going to call all my dear friends, and take a good look at their faces, imprinting their features on my heart.I also want to see the face of a newborn baby so that I can see the kind of alive, innocent face that hasn't been through life's struggles.

I also want to look into the eyes of my trusty, loyal pack of dogs - the poised and alert little Scotty Duckie and the tall, strong, understanding Big Dane Helga, with their enthusiasm, Gentleness and occasional mischief keep me warm.

On my busy first day, I also had to take a hard look at the simple little things in my house.I want to see the bright colors of the rug under my feet, the pictures on the walls and all the little things that change a "house" into a "home".

I shall gaze with the most reverent gaze upon the embossed books I have ever read, but when I am done I shall be more anxious to see the printed books for the sighted.For in the long dark night in which I have lived, the books I have read and what have been read to me have become a beacon of great light, showing me the deepest wellsprings of civilization and the human spirit.

On the afternoon of the first day I can see, I will take long walks in the forest, intoxicating myself with the beauty of the natural world, and for a few hours I will be intoxicated and greedy The majestic spectacle opened to the sighted.After a short trip to the forest, I may pass a farm on the way back, so I will patiently watch the horses plowing the field. If I am not lucky, maybe I can only see the tractor!I also want to see the quiet and contented life of those who cling to the land.I will also pray quietly under the glorious and magnificent sunset.

When night came, I was delighted that I could see the artificial light.Because this is the invention of human wisdom to expand the range of vision when nature stipulates that it is night.On the first night I could see, I thought I would not be able to sleep because my mind was full of memories of the day.

The next day

The next day—the day after I had sight—I would rise early to witness the thrilling spectacle of night turning into day.I shall watch with awe the inscrutable shifts of light and color in which the sun awakens the sleeping earth.

I want to use this day to observe the whole world, and take a quick glimpse of the style and features from ancient times to the present.I want to see the difficult and tortuous road of human progress, the rise and fall of the past and the vicissitudes of life.How can so many things be compressed into one day?Of course, this can only be done by visiting the museum.I used to go to the Museum of Natural History in New York and run my hands countless times over the objects on display there, but deep down I longed so much to see with my own eyes the abbreviated history of the Earth what.

See the Earth's inhabitants on display—animals and people of different colors depicted in the natural environment in which they lived; see dinosaurs with a huge skeleton and the animals that lived on Earth long before man appeared. Mastodon, human beings at that time conquered the animal kingdom with their short stature and developed brain; look at the realistic pictures showing the evolution process of animals and humans, and those human beings used to build their own homes on this planet Tools; of course, in addition to this, I have to read a lot of other things about natural history and so on.

(End of this chapter)