Lessons from the Life of Helen Keller – Part 1

We can decide to let our trials crush us, or we can convert them to new forces of good.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller had enough difficult issues to face in her life to defeat anyone. No one would have been surprised if she had not achieved much. An illness when she was nineteen months old left her deaf and blind. Yet by the time she was seven years old, she had invented over 60 different signs to communicate with her family.

Helen’s mother sought out the best minds of the time to find some help for her daughter. Mother love spurred her on to find the best help available for her daughter. Eventually Helen Keller learned to read Braille in English, French, German, Greek, and Latin. She also graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe college, becoming the first blind and deaf person to graduate from college.

What does all this have to do with adoption, you may be asking? I think there are several lessons to learn from her story that we could apply to adoption. First, Helen Keller’s mother believed in her daughter, and instead of giving up on her, she found someone who could help her. Some adoptive parents are parenting children with difficult problems. Yet, they love their children and find ways to help them thrive. That is what loving parents do for their children.

Adoptive moms and foster moms use their love for their children to find all the resources necessary for a child with difficult issues. They never give up knowing that the life of their child is at stake. There is no stronger love on earth than the love of a mother for her child.

Some first/birth families in open adoptions steadfastly remain in their children’s lives as strong and stable presences. I see their struggles and know that cannot be easy. However, despite the cost to themselves, they maintain regular contact with their children. That is what loving parents do for their children.

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