Some Really Are Heroes
April 6, 2008 8:12 am > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays |
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Plan Your Epitaph Day
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Me’e: Hero PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Pait: Fight HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “A canoe steersman for a stormy day.” HAOLE SAYING OF THE DAY — “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing” (Helen Keller)
WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Maui Hero Project WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — Iraq War Veterans Speak Out PODCAST OF THE WEEK — Slate.com Podcasts BLOG OF THE WEEK — BoingBong.com
April 6th, 1937: Sadly, she never came to Maui, but on this date Helen Keller began a 5-day visit of Hawaii, during which she addressed the Territorial Legislature and met with blind children, an event sponsored by the Lions Club.A small woman by stature, she must be one of the greatest human beings ever to grace this country. An activist, lecturer, prolific author, world-traveler, socialist and anti-war activist, Helen Keller was the first deafblind person on record to graduate from college - in the world.She became deafblind after a bout of either scarlet fever or meningitis at the age of 19 months. Unable to see or hear, we cannot imagine what her concept of the world must have been inside her darkness.Her tutor, Anne Sullivan, who devoted the remainder of her life - 49 years - to Helen, worked for years to bring Helen out of her dark shell and succeeded with water (a scene which has been immortalized more than once in movies). She ran water over Helen’s hands and kept repeating the word water, by touch, in Helen’s palm. By the age of 7 Helen had learned 60 words to communicate by this newly invented sign language. Before she died at nearly 88 years of age, Helen had written more than two dozen books.
She fought for civil rights, womens’ suffrage, unions and workers’ rights, animals, and birth control. She was a great friend to Mark twain, awarded the Presidential medal of Freedom in 1964 and met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon Johnson.
Today, the genius of her wisdom speaks to us still: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
The photo here was discovered just weeks ago, the first new photo we have of Keller and Sullivan in more than five decades
HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — April 6th- -648: (BCE) Earliest total solar eclipse, chronicled by Greeks, is observed
- 1712: Slaves revolt in New York - 6 commit suicide, 21 are executed
- 1862: First Battle of Shiloh (aka Battle of Pittsburg Landing) is fought
- 1866: Grand Army of the Republic is formed
- 1906: The first animated cartoon is copyrighted
- 1909: Admiral Robert Perry reaches the North Pole on his 6th attempt, accompanied by 4 Eskimos and Matthew Henson, a African American
- 1917: The U.S. declares war on Germany and enters World War I
- 1924: Four planes leave Seattle on first successful around-the-world flight
- 2000: Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of 6-year old Elian Gonzalez, arrives in the U.S. to argue for the return of his son to Cuba
- 2001: Pacific Gas and Electric files for bankruptcy
BORN ON THIS DAY — April 6th
- 1483: Raffaello Santi (Raphael), Italian painter and architect
- 1671: Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet
- 1866: Butch Cassidy, outlaw
- 1866: Joseph Lincoln Steffens, muckraker/journalist
- 1874: Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss), magician/escape artist
- 1884: Walter Huston, actor
- 1928: James Watson, chemist (co-discovered structure of DNA)
- 1937: Billy Dee Williams, actor
- 1937: Merle Haggard, country singer
- 1938: Roy Thinnes, actor
- 1939: Gerry Mulligan, baritone saxophonis
- 1944: Michele Phillips, singer/actress
- 1945: Bob Marley, reggae musician/singer
- 1951: Ralph Cooper, drummer
- 1952: Marilu Henner, actress
- 1964: Johnny Dee, heavy metal drummer
- 1976: Soleil Moon Frye, actress
- 1972: Jason Hervey, actor
- 1975: Zach Braff, actor, writer
- 1976: Candace Cameron Bure, actress
