'They must be felt with the heart'

 

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
 

June 27th is Helen Keller Day, first proclaimed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter in commemoration of the anniversary of her birth (in Alabama) on this date in 1880.  Author, political activist, and lecturer, she was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and a longtime writer, first being published at age 12. 

 

The story of how her teacher Anne Sullivan broke through Keller’s wall of silence and isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language and leading to Helen’s learning to communicate is depicted in the wonderful book, play and movie, The Miracle Worker.  Ultimately, Keller authored a dozen books, hundreds of essays and many stories, and inspired countless others with her writing and speaking skills. 

 

In 1964 Keller was a recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom.  Posthumously (she died in 1968) she was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame (in 1971) and was one of 12 inaugural inductees into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame (2015).

 

“When we do the best that we can,” she said, “we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.   I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad.   Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.”