Sometimes, man has the tendency to give up too easily. Through difficult moments, we think that there will never be a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. We think that we are children of a lesser God when things do not go as planned. Happiness is a God-given gift to other people and not to us. Our destiny is to be miserable, quitters and long time sufferers, or so we think.

All through my life, one woman inspired me. A special person who leaves me in no doubt that there should have been an 11th commandment “Thou shalt not quit”.

Helen Keller is still considered to be one of the most intelligent women in the USA. At the tender age of nine, she had the misfortune to “wilt” medically because of a malady which left her blind, deaf and dumb. When Annie Sullivan, (played by Anne Bancroft in the film Helen Keller) a teacher, came into her life, Helen found it difficult to adjust to discipline and retaliated by acting like a savage, kicking Annie Sullivan in the legs and biting her.

Annie Sullivan did not give up and with love, patience, tolerance, and compassion yet with a certain amount of firmness, Helen Keller was transformed into a person with copious talents that “normal” people could never adhere to. Helen Keller learned to read Braille, she learnt how to speak properly, went to school, entered university and wrote book after book besides being the main speaker at conferences in America, Japan and all over Europe. She gave hope to everybody, disabled or not.

Helen Keller did not believe in commiserating over her affliction and passed on to others what she herself did not.

The “pity potty” was not on her agenda. She was over 70 years old when she toured Africa to offer any kind of service to invalids. When somebody asked here if she believed in the after life, she retorted, “Of course I believe. In my book, death is going from one room to another except that I hope that in the ‘next’ room things would be different and I would be able to see”.

Helen Keller is an inspiration to us all. Her sang-froid attitude towards life in spite of her serious defects emphasises the fact that even from the depths of despair, we can emerge as heroes. May God bless those who help themselves as Helen Keller did. Where there is a will… there is a way.

Valerie Borg

Valletta