Experimental Blog #35

Comments on 2 books: "The Story of My Life" - The Restored Classic by Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and John Macy and with the editors Roger Shattuck and Dorothy Herrmann;
and "Helen Keller" - A Life by Dorothy Herrmann

Helen Keller met her first president, Grover Cleveland, when she was 8 years old. In a few years she would become one of the world's most well known people, and she would meet every American President through Franklin Roosevelt at least. She would also meet and correspond with many other of the world's well known or famous people. Even beyond 70 years of age, Helen Keller would repeatedly travel to Europe and Asia and, perhaps, other countries.
Although criticized by a few people, Helen Keller's self-confessed ability to "see through other people's eyes" and to "hear with other people's ears", together with her phenomenal memory, caused some people to call her "the 8th Wonder of the World."
Helen Keller's famous teacher, Anne Sullivan, was considered by a few people to be the "true genius." However, except for Anne Sullivan's reports about her work with her pupil, and her not particularly unusual letters, and, of course, her virtually countless performances as Helen Keller's interpreter, Anne Sullivan does not seem to give much evidence for such an evaluation.
It is very interesting to read the reports that deaf and blind people do not really "live in darkness," and that they possess their own complete sense of identity, and that, at least eventually, they become so accustomed that they have little or no feeling of deficiency or deprivation.