This
video of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan catches the essence of what
it means to be human. You can just feel it, know it, regardless of the "latest" scientific research on the brain or what computer
enthusiasts might say.
My
own first knowledge of Helen Keller (1880-1968) was “The Miracle Worker“ film of 1962, starring Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. That
entire film, although it seems a little dated to me now, is available
on YouTube along with many other clips of her.
There
is some sense in which my own life has been primarily an attempt at a
working out, an elaboration, of what you see in the above clip. Every thing correctly named, every word, every true symbol, is a sharing of life with
loved ones, even if those loved ones are old beloved friends in my
heart and I may have lost the sight of their faces and the warmth of
their hands. The academic field in which I studied,
researched and taught for many years, “Symbolic Interactionism,”
is basically an elaboration of what you seen in that short clip.
Here
are two good Helen Keller quotations from among many at brainyquote:
So
long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I
shall say that life is good.
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 no safer
in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring
adventure or it is nothing.
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