It Is Time for Me to Learn Braille. Move On and Make a Change

Charlie: It Is Time for Me to Learn Braille. Move On and Make a Change

The account describes a condition in Charlie’s remaining eye that caused it to fill with blood and threatened the rest of his sight. When you are an obsessive reader like Charlie, losing your ability to see would seem like a prison sentence. However, Charlie was undeterred. He told someone close to him, “It’s time for me to learn braille.” He began taking braille lessons. The account says the worrisome eye condition later receded, but the story is a good example of Charlie’s philosophy on life. No self-pity. No emotional wallowing. Staying rational. xcviii

Charlie: “I think I developed courage when I learned I could deal with hardship. You need to get your feet wet and get some failures under your feet xcix.”

Mr. Brown: “Well, I don’t know why, but I want to tell you my story about an experience I had several years ago. You know I have two sons. At that time one of them was five and another seven years old. We had this beautiful house in my parents’ village; we used to live there during the summer. Beautiful lake, fresh air—it could not be better for kids. At that point, I wanted them to know what a normal life was, village life. Simple family homes, folk do not have much money to spend—a little different compared to city life, big-city life. And people of course are more kind and sincere—honest, hardworking families. My boy one morning found a dog dying near our house. It was a beautiful black dog, maybe three or four months old. Somebody had poisoned her or something, as there were no visible injuries to the body. Johnny, my oldest boy, took care of her and fed her milk. We took her to see a doctor. Then we learned that in the neighboring house was a young boy who was ill all the time. He was mostly in his bed. It turned out this dog was his only friend, and he was crazy not to lose it. It was a big family, I believe four or five kids. We visited their house one day when Johnny learned about where his dog had come from. When he returned home, he was so sad he did not want to return the dog, but he understood that he had to help that little ill boy, and he returned the dog right away. After that, we decided to visit this family with some toys and amuse this little boy a little. But every time we came the boy was pale and had no energy to get up. Johnny wanted to help the boy and we even called our doctor to come from New York City to visit him. But the doctor could only tell us that the boy had several months to live, no more. The family was so sad. His dad was crying but never showed the little boy his emotions. He just repeated to him: ‘Dear John, you will be better soon, I know. I know it.’ But he was knew it was just not true. The boy was dying. When Johnny brought his dog to John, the boy was so glad; he even stood up, hugged it, and smiled. After a week, we visited him again, and he did not want to speak, just lay in bed. Life is really tough from time to time.”