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

Chapter 22 The Second Half of My Life (Continued) (7)
After the outbreak of the World War, my mother never mentioned the war.But when the mother is away once.When she saw a large group of young people camping in tents on the way out, she couldn't help saying with emotion: "Oh! It's so pitiful that these lively and lovely young people are about to be sent to the battlefield! Is there any way to help them?" Don't let them go?" As he spoke, he couldn't help crying.Then, when she heard Russia's peace terms, my mother said: "The country that has the courage to say the words 'war is a crime of mankind'

It's amazing!Although separated by a huge ocean, I really want to reach out and hug it. "

When my mother was alive, she often said that she hoped that she would not cause too much trouble to others when she was old, and she would rather die quietly.When my mother died, she was staying at my younger sister's house. She passed away peacefully and peacefully, without disturbing anyone, and was discovered later.

I only learned of my mother's death two hours before going on stage to perform.Before that, I didn't get any news about my mother's illness, so I didn't have any mental preparations.

"Ah! At this time, do I still have to perform on stage?" I immediately thought that I was going to die.Almost every muscle in my body wanted to cry out.However, I actually acted strong. When I performed on stage, no one in the audience knew that I had just heard such unfortunate news. This was very comforting to Mrs. Sullivan and me.

I still remember the day a viewer asked
Me: "How old are you?"

"How old am I?" I asked myself because I felt like I was already big.But I didn't answer this question directly, I just asked him: "How old do you think I am?"

There was a burst of laughter from the audience.

Then someone asked, "Are you happy?"

When I heard this question, tears almost welled up in my eyes, but I still held it back.

Answer as calmly as possible: "Yes! I am happy because I believe in God."

That's about it for the day's Q&A.After returning to the backstage, the grief in my heart could no longer be suppressed, it poured out, and I could hardly move.Although I know that one day I will be able to see my mother in the "eternal kingdom", but the present world seems so lonely without her.No matter when and where, everything brings back memories of my mother.I called out in my heart with endless thoughts: "It would be great if I could receive the Braille letters written by my mother again."

Until April of the following year, when I went to my sister's house in Alabama, I finally had to admit that my mother was really dead!
Dear mother!You have suffered for me all your life, now that you are in heaven, you should be more optimistic!Because you should understand that the reason why I became like this is entirely God's will, and your heart should be at peace.This is the thing that comforts me the most.

run for donations

Many felt that a national institution for the blind should be established, and after a long period of organizing and planning, it was finally established in 1921.The president of the Pennsylvania Association of the Blind was the founder of the institution.The resolution was formally passed at the annual summary meeting of the American Association of Blind Entrepreneurs held in Ohio.Mr. M. C. McGill of New York is the first president of the association.At the beginning, Mr. McGill relied entirely on the support of his friends to run the association. Since 1924, the association changed its policy and decided to raise funds from the general public. Therefore, it is hoped that Mr. Sullivan and I will join in this charitable act.

To have to go around trying to raise a little money is really unpleasant to me.When I learned about their plan, although I felt that they were well-intentioned, I was still a little unhappy.However, I know very well that, given the circumstances at the time, no charity or educational institution could survive without the support of society.For the benefit of all blind friends, I have to do my best to do what I can.So I began to appear among all kinds of high-rise buildings again, and I took the elevator back and forth to give speeches.

The purpose of this solicitation fund is to help blind people learn the skills to be able to stand on their own, and to provide them with a place to display their talents.In addition, it is also necessary to help those blind people who are gifted but poor, so that their talents can be brought into play, such as those who are talented in music but cannot afford expensive instruments such as pianos and violins due to their poverty.In fact, there are many such buried geniuses.

From then on, it took about 3 years, I went to every corner of the country, visited 123 large and small cities, participated in 249 rallies, and gave speeches to more than 20 audiences.In addition, various groups and organizations such as newspapers, churches, schools, synagogues, women's organizations, youth groups, girl groups, service clubs, and Lions clubs are mobilized, often pooling funds to sponsor our association.Especially the members of the Lions Club, they pay great attention to the care of disabled children, and they also devote the same care to the blind, so fundraising work has almost become the main task of all members.

There is a saying: "People who are over 40 years old have experienced most of everything, and there will be nothing to be happy about." But God seems to be very kind to me, just after my 40th birthday , Several unexpected and joyful things happened in succession.One of them is the establishment of the American Association of Blind Entrepreneurs; the other is the fundraising campaign we launched, which has received strong support from many people and has achieved remarkable results; the third happy event is precisely because of the establishment of the American Association of Blind Entrepreneurs. Braille, which was originally contended by a hundred schools of thought, was unified.The happy event is not only these, the first National Library for the Blind was established, and the government also allocated a large sum of money to publish books in Braille.Immediately afterwards, the Red Cross Society of each state also established a subsidiary Braille agency, which was responsible for translating books into Braille.Later, a movement for welfare was launched for those soldiers who unfortunately went blind in World War I.In this way, our long-standing wishes have finally come true one by one, and I am very happy.

In the winter of 1926, our speaker group came to Washington just as Congress had passed a bill to fund a National Library for the Blind and publish books in Braille.Hearing this good news, our confidence has greatly increased and we are full of hope for the future.One afternoon, my teacher and I went to the White House to visit President Coolidge. He welcomed us very warmly, and then listened eagerly to our report to him on the situation of the Institute of the Blind.Finally he took my hand and put it on his lips, and told me: "I think the work you guys are doing is amazing, as long as I can, I will do my best to help."

This president really did what he said. He later became the honorary president of the Association of the Blind, and he himself donated a lot of money to the foundation. Mrs. Coolidge has repeatedly expressed her willingness to participate in our work.The first lady is really very enthusiastic about the deaf-mute and handicapped, and has won a lot of benefits for them.

We have visited Mr. Thomas Hill, a blind MP, and Mr. and Mrs. Lai Simpu, and they have also been very helpful.In addition, my good friend who lives in Washington, Dr. Bell's daughter, Mrs. Eloise, also appealed to the public for us, which made me very grateful.In Detroit, Mr. Camille, the president of the local Association for the Protection of the Disabled, is my good friend for many years. He worked tirelessly to publicize and preach to the citizens repeatedly. As a result, we only held one meeting in the place and raised 4 US dollars. , and the month.After the meeting, we received many donations one after another, ranging from as little as 2 US dollar to as much as 1 US dollars. The harvest for this city alone is considerable.

The fundraising in Philadelphia was also very successful. Dr. Lake, a member of the fundraising committee, was very enthusiastic about soliciting donations from the public, and raised 2 US dollars in just one week.St. Louis, Chicago, Buffalo and other places received relatively little response, but a small place like Rochester raised as much as $2.Generally speaking, movie stars live a much better life than the average person, and I think they will definitely get a lot of donations, but in fact, the results are very disappointing.I sent countless letters to Los Angeles, but there was only one reply letter, which was sent back by a female star named Mary Bankford, and the other letters were like a stone sink, and there was no news.We are therefore especially grateful for the kindness of Mary and her husband, Mr. Douglas Fairmont.

During this trip, we visited Santa Lola's agricultural experiment field. The person in charge there, Mr. Rusha Babenke, miraculously made many kinds of fruits, flowers, trees, etc. that could not grow here in the past. Planted successfully and is an amazing agronomist.Mr. Babenke not only gave us generously, but also showed us his proving ground very enthusiastically.He asked me to touch the cactus he cultivated with my hands, and told me that the cactus growing in the desert has many thorns. If you plant this kind of plant at home, it will often hurt your hands, so he improved it. The cactus I touched has no thorns. prickly.Sure enough, the cactus feels smooth and smooth to the touch, and has a plump feeling with plenty of water, which makes me imagine that this thing must be delicious to eat.

In the past two years, I have basically rarely gone out to collect donations for writing books, but our work is not finished, and we are still short of 150 million US dollars to reach the original goal, so I have to start again after finishing the manuscript.What is gratifying is that our past efforts were not in vain. Although there have been no fundraising activities in the past two years, most people have already known our existence, so people still send money one after another.For example, last year, the billionaire Rockefeller, Mr. Michael and others all donated a lot of money.So far, there are countless people who have donated money, and it is impossible to list their names here. However, we are equally grateful to every kind person who donated. Their love will warm the hearts of every blind person , and will be passed on from generation to generation.

Indeed, fundraising is meant to accumulate the donations of countless people. Without the help of so many well-wishers, our association would not be able to carry out its work as planned.Every time Ms. Thomason opened the letter, a check would fall out of the envelope.These letters come from students, laborers, soldiers and friends from all walks of life; from all over the world, including China, Italy, China, etc., and some of them are disabled people like us.

One morning, the postman delivered a letter from Detroit signed "a poor working woman" who donated a dollar.The children responded enthusiastically, and their sincerity and innocence often moved me to tears.Some came with their own heavy piggy bank, put it on my lap, opened it on the spot, and donated it all; some children wrote enthusiastic letters telling me that they saved their parents to buy them Coke , ice cream money and donated out.

I remember that when we held Andy's rally in New York, a disabled teenager donated $500 and attached a bouquet of beautiful roses.The boy is no longer alive now, and the bouquet of roses has long since withered, but the flower of his love will bloom forever in the garden of my heart.

my rich life
People often say to me with pity: "I think the world you can touch is too small, how pitiful!" But only I understand in my heart that these people don't know much about my life situation, and of course they don't know what I see. How many books have I read, how many friends I have, and how many places I have traveled.So whenever I hear someone say that my life circle is too small, I can't help laughing to myself.

For non-Braille books and newspapers, I will have someone read to me.For example, for the morning papers every day, Mrs. Sullivan or Ms. Thomason would read the headlines to me first, and then I would pick out the parts that are more interesting and ask them to read them carefully.The same is true of general magazines, which are read to me by the teacher or Ms. Thomason. After a month, I want them on average.Read seven or eight magazines.In addition, I often read some braille magazines myself, because there are often good articles from other magazines reproduced there.Some people write me Braille letters themselves, others have someone who can write them for me, so I can often enjoy the camaraderie at my fingertips.For me, I do enjoy reading Braille because it's something you feel directly and it's more impressive.

I have a good friend named Atna Poda who is very kind to me.When he traveled around the world, he took a Braille tablet with him, and wherever he went, he wrote to me what he saw and heard.Therefore, it was as if I was traveling with him, listening to the sound of icebergs cracking in the Atlantic Ocean; walking along the vast avenues in Paris; flying across the English Channel together; coming to Venice, the capital of water, on a bright moonlit night , while admiring Venice under the moonlight, while quietly listening to the boatman singing Italian love songs.How romantic is that atmosphere!
After seeing Mount Vesuvius and the Roman Colosseum thousands of years ago, it is time to head to the mysterious East.I followed Boda to India and China, and saw many strange and interesting things.When I arrived in Japan, it was the season of cherry blossoms. The colorful cherry blossoms fluttered and scattered, forming a strange scene. The bells from the quiet temple aroused my infinite reverie.The most interesting thing is that Boda said to me in amazement: "Look! Japanese women are walking on the street with their children on their backs, while men are walking on the road wearing four-inch high wooden clogs, making a creaking sound. Voice." With friends like Boda, the so-called physical freedom is actually gone.

Among the many friends who cared about me, Mrs. William Sue was one of the most enthusiastic and ready to help me at any time.She has sponsored many charities, and as long as it is related to me, she always donates a lot of money.When our thoughts were very different, she said to me: "Although I don't agree with you, our friendship is another matter." She still loves me from the beginning.

Frank Corbott was my college classmate and friend. He founded Corbott Publishing House 25 years ago and once published my biography - "My Life".Now that I'm working on a sequel to the book, Frank is still supporting me as much as ever.In fact, as early as 10 years ago, Frank encouraged me to write the sequel of this book, and when I was writing Heshu, I always felt that Frank seemed to be by my side.

In the winter of 1912, Mrs. Meadowlink, the author of the book "Blue Bird", came to Lianshan. She was modest and lively.After she returned to France, she even sent me a card, writing on the card: "Pray for the girl who found the blue bird."

There are quite a few celebrities who come to Lianshan, one of them is the Nobel Prize winner, the Indian poet Mr. Tagore. This poet is very tall, with fluffy gray hair, which is almost indistinguishable from the beard on his face. , reminds me of the prophets recorded in the Bible.I like Tagore's poetry collection very much, and after reading a lot of his works, I can deeply feel his love for human beings.It was a great honor in my life to see this poet.When I told him about my admiration and admiration for him, he said: "I am very glad that you can see my love for human beings from my works. Do you know that the world is waiting for a God of love?" Do you love the world more than yourself?" Mr. Tagore talked about the current situation, and he mentioned the international situation in India, China and some powerful countries in the world in a sad tone: "European countries force the Chinese to smoke opium. Otherwise, the country is in danger of being partitioned. Under such circumstances, how can Asian nations not rearm their armies to protect themselves? Britain, like a vulture, has brought the flames of war to the Pacific coast, where many Military bases. Among the Asian countries, Japan has been able to stand on its own, but China probably won’t wake up until the city gates are breached and thieves break into the house... Please remember, a person who loves himself too much often destroys himself The only person who can save the world is the love of God.”

(End of this chapter)