North America is Peaceful, Let's Keep it That Way

Helen Keller was not born a deaf mute. She contracted a disease at 19 months old, it is suspected, scarlet fever that left her thus so.  Her mother was vigilant in getting help for her daughter and because the family had some wealth she was able to find and hire Anne Sullivan to privately teach her.  Anne was also suffering from blindness due to a childhood disease.

Anne's parents were immigrants from Ireland. Her mother died and her father left Anne and her brother at a charitable house for the poor. Her brother died three months later due to a hip ailment. Anne moved to the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, MA.  Here she received several eye operations that made her sight better and enabled her to become a graduate of the school.

It was this school that Helen's mother contacted and it was Anne that was recommended to teach Helen.  Later Anne arranged for Helen to attend Perkins Institute for the Blind and helped her to graduate. From here Helen went to Radcliffe College and became the first deaf blind person to obtain a bachelor's degree, thanks to Anna Sullivan's help and Mark Twain's money. (Magnate of Standard Oil Company, Mr. & Mrs. Henry Rogers helped pay too.)

Helen Keller became a woman who not only was a suffragette but supported socialism. She became a political activist and public speaker to promote women's rights and the plight of the poor in America.

There have been a few movies made about Helen and Anne but my favorite was with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft "The Miracle Worker" 1962.  You Tube has it for free.

Helen's mother loved her daughter, no doubt but because she did not know how to train her daughter and she felt sorry for her she let her grow up somewhat wild and violent at times.  When Anne Sullivan came to help her Anne knew to really reach her and help Helen to become self reliant and independent, she needed discipline and basic rules of civility rules to get her ready to be successful in navigating the world outside.

Anne Sullivan knew to do the task ahead of her she had to get Helen's mother out of the picture for a while, because her mother let Helen do anything she wanted even if it disrupted the other members of the household lives, and Helen did disrespect other family members, often.  Helen's mother would say, "She has it so much tougher being deaf and blind we have to let her have her way ... after all we can see and hear, we can overlook this bad behavior of Helen."  (No mother, this is not helping anyone, least of all Helen.)

Ms. Sullivan did not agree with Mrs. Keller.  Anne knew Helen is not an animal, she can be taught to be respectful, kind, well mannered, as well as appropriate in behavior in a family. She would teach Helen this quite successfully.

As mothers and fathers who have raised children, we know before a child can walk, she/he must learn how to roll and then crawl.  A baby needs strength, needs to feel safe when rolling and crawling to get to her/his feet. When the basic safety is established a child will stand and walk without fail.

I know, I know, I have a point it's coming... 

The human discipline of civility and peaceful actions to live in a society of law abiding citizens is the same.  We cannot live together in peace if everyone is living according to their personal rules that have no respect for other people's body space and property.  It's common sense to "most" law abiding citizens to respect and care for others and not inflict harm or violence to another. To those that have not been raised in a equally respectful culture, household, this may seem unfounded. Society's laws has to teach them. North America has progressed in this civility quite well and if it is to be maintained, it must be taught by personal example and laws.

So like Anne Sullivan saw the need for basic rules of civility to begin any kind of self reliance and ability to function in society, we as a nation have a duty to teach kindness and respect to our children, and our citizens.  This is why we have laws, when these laws need to be amended, we work to do so, legally, peacefully.

The reasoning to feel sorry for someone as the reason to overlook "bad behavior" does not help anyone.  It not only can cause chaos in a household but can cause chaos in a country and can permit uncivilized violent tendencies learned in another culture to be perpetuated here.

Like Anne Sullivan knew, she could help Helen but Helen needed to first learn to respect basic rules of civility.

We all can live in a peaceful society, going about our business being prosperous and happy but we have a responsibility to teach others how to behavior peacefully.  If others display harmful or violent behavior they need to learn our peaceful ways by the laws of the land.

Our family has to respect others, abide by the law to live in peace.  Others will treat you as you allow them to, to have respectful citizens, we all need to learn laws of civility and teach these peaceful laws to anyone that does not know them.  We are one in purpose, we want peace.