Helen Keller lost her sight and hearing as a small child, and for years she lived in what she later called a still, dark world. In March 1887 a teacher named Anne Sullivan came to Alabama. She spelled words into Helen’s hand over and over, but Helen kept mixing up “mug” and “water.” One day she got so frustrated she smashed her new doll on the floor. Sullivan didn’t quit. She walked Helen out to the well-house, put one of her hands under the spout, and spelled w-a-t-e-r into the other. Suddenly it clicked. Helen wrote that the living word awakened her soul and gave it light, hope, and joy. She left that well-house eager to learn. Never underestimate what patient love can unlock in somebody.
