I want to see the world the way Helen Keller did.
I had previously read her autobiography for my American Literature class in 10th grade, and although I was greatly touched by her story, I simply placed it back on the shelf and forgot about her. However, I happened to read her Optimism: An Essay while taking one of those dreaded standardized academic benchmark test. It was included in the Writing section! Who knew, right?!?
Anyways, I want to share a few of her words. They spoke to my soul.
"The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good."
"I proclaim the world good, and facts range themselves to prove my proclamation overwhelmingly true. To what is good I open the doors of my being, and jealously shut them against what is bad.
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. It is my service to think how I can best fulfill the demands that each day makes upon me, and to rejoice that others can do what I cannot."
"I trust, and nothing that happens disturbs my trust. I recognize the beneficence of the power which we all worship as supreme—Order, Fate, the Great Spirit, Nature, God. I recognize this power in the sun that makes all things grow and keeps life afoot. I make a friend of this indefinable force, and straightway I feel glad, brave and ready for any lot Heaven may decree for me."
"I am never discouraged by absence of good. I never can be argued into hopelessness. Doubt and mistrust are the mere panic of timid imagination, which the steadfast heart will conquer, and the large mind transcend."
"The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker; and that thought alone suffices to guide me in this dark world and wide."
"I love the good that others do; for their activity is an assurance that whether I can help or not, the true and the good will stand sure."
I never want to be argued into hopelessness. I want to reap the kernels of goodness grown from MY own soil. I want to open the doors of MY being to that which is good and of God. I want to conquer evil with MY valiant heart. I want MY faith to be unshakeable. I want to be one of those honest workers who ensures that "the good will stand sure." I want to be ready for the works that God has decreed for me and entrusted to me. I want to make a friend of God.
Thank you for your example, Ms. Keller.