Today, I am thankful for those who refuse to stop at success after one amazing achievement but continue to fulfill milestones of unprecedented glory.
Back in early March, I told the tale of a miraculous woman, Helen Keller, and her achievements in early life. Born on this day (June 27) in 1880, Helen was a healthy young lad until she contracted ‘brain fever’ at any early age. This mysterious malady would render Helen without her senses of sight or hearing. Helen suffered immensely until she met Anne Sullivan. Initially, Helen struggled to comprehend her mentor’s technique of finger spelling. Then, one day, Helen had a watershed moment (literally). She was able to connect that the cool, flowing liquid being poured on her one hand by Anne was indeed the word “W-A-T-E-R” being spelled by her teacher in other hand. At that moment, the concept that every word carries its own meaning was formed in her mind. In fact, by the end of that same day, Helen had voraciously learned the meaning of 30 different words. By the age of 10, Helen had advanced enough that she was taking speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. From there, with Anne by her side, Helen advanced her academic studies and her communication skills by attending increasingly more challenging schools for deaf and blind children, first in New York and then back in Boston.
She attended Radcliffe College of Harvard University, where her tuition was paid for by 2 admirers: the famous author, Mark Twain, and his wealthy friend and Standard Oil executive, Henry H. Rodgers. Both were inspired by Helen’s personal progress in the face of adversity. While in college, Helen published her famed book, The Story of My Life, an autobiography of her traumatic past and her gradual, but steady road to erudition by the age of 21. Helen’s story became an instant inspirational success story, and her national prestige grew.
Now, the story could end there (as I did back when I originally wrote the blog), and we’d all be thoroughly amazed by what Helen had accomplished by earning a degree from such a prestigious university (with cum laude distinction, nonetheless!). However, Helen’s story was just getting started.
After graduating from Harvard, Helen became a famous author, a social activist, and a philanthropist. In addition to being the founding person of certain famous organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), she was an active supporter of several important organizations, including the American Federation for the Blind, the American Foundation for Overseas Blind, and the Helen Keller International. She advocated publicly against war and violence, campaigned for women’s suffrage, and lectured against child labor practices. All the while, Anne was always by her side until her own unfortunate death in 1936. Having lost her trusted mentor and best friend, Helen turned to another colleague, Polly Thompson, who stepped in to fill Anne’s void. Together, Helen and Polly partnered on numerous outreach, goodwill missions – many focused on improving international care for those with physical disabilities. In fact, she and Polly travelled extensively to over 40 countries, advocating for the rights of the blind and disabled patients throughout the world. Her efforts led to many nations enacting laws and policies to improve the conditions for the blind, the deaf, and those with other physical or mental disabilities. In fact, when President Eisenhower strove to improve US/Japan relations after the devastation of World War II, he turned to Helen as his special envoy to visit Japan; she was welcomed in Tokyo and other Japanese cities with open arms, thereby helping to build a bridge between the 2 national adversaries.
By the time Helen Keller died at the age of 88, her steadfast determination, empathic approach, and kindred spirit had changed the world. Helen is proof that we don’t need to stop when we achieved initial success. Our first accomplishment is often just a stepping stone to future milestone. Many have followed suit after Helen Keller who continue to pile on one success after another. Thomas Edison. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Winston Churchill. Albert Einstein. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bo Jackson. Ronald Reagan. Tom Brady.
Why stop at one success when you’re having fun?
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