Writer's Notebook

A man without vision challenged a seeing world.
The seeing world ignored him.
The helping world, those who knew or thought they knew, rejected.
But one man...

One man saw, encouraged, pushed and opened doors;
the world sat up and noticed and wondered,
and then returned to sleep.
They saw, but it was different, so they couldn't see.

Despair followed.
He'd never been able to see, but had always had vision.
Now even that was prised from his eyes of faith.
Until...

Until another came.
He called to the world, which couldn't see,
Extoling him without sight, who could.
And this time like a flower slowly opening itself up to reality,
The world recognised, what it had never perceived,
Despite the fact that it was new,
Giving faith and hope and vision to millions
Who couldn't see.

This is a tribute to Louis Braille, the man who enabled the blind to learn to see through their fingers. Braille's system was at first spurned, because it was so different. One man lost his job and then his livelihood trying to help. It wasn't until years later that a second man forced the world to look, see and care.