Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Facing the Battle of Life


Sam Bean of Alameda California
Only a week after the Oakland Tribune ran a story on Sam Bean and his upcoming graduation from the California School for the Deaf and Blind in Berkeley, the newspaper issued another report. Thankfully correcting the date of the impending high school festivities in the process, the article’s purpose was actually to announce a feature of the program. “Young Bean,” the newspaper declared, “is the most remarkable member” of his class and “is the first student with a double handicap of his kind to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat.”

Though the wording hardly strayed from typical journalistic style—other than, admittedly, the continued hyperbole—I could sense a tremor of anticipation in the line that explained, 
A voice which he has not heard since he was 16 years old will pronounce the words of his poem at the coming exercises.
Incredibly, this now deaf and blind student was going to read aloud, in a public gathering, a poem of his own creation. Oh, how I wish I could have been there to hear it—or at least that someone would have had the technical ability to have recorded the rendition.

Though there was really no way anyone could share in Sam’s “sensations of living in a world of blindness and silence,” the poem was his message, standing in the gap between his school days and an unknown future. While the prior week’s news article had characterized Sam as having “an unclouded vision of life,” the title Sam gave this poem conveys a different perspective.

Facing the Battle of Life 
Let me pause upon the threshold
Facing life, where school days end:
While happy thoughts so trailing backward,
Hope inspires my future trend.

My greatest lessons learned through trials
Solving life’s perplexing sums,
Have tested worth of strength and courage—
Steeled my soul to meet what comes.

Though double cross be mine to shoulder,
God I’ll trust to lead the way
For spirit reigns and crowns the victor,
Makes him ruler of this clay.

With dauntless faith and firm conviction,
Knowing all that is, is best:
Resolute I face the future,
Full of cheerful hearty zest.

Clouds and shadows though deceiving,
Truth and wisdom cannot hide:
Conquest comes to him who conquers—
Him who braves the raging tide.

Farewell teachers, friends and comrades.
Oft sweet memory shall recall,
All your treasured deeds of kindness,
Gratefully I thank you all.                                          ~ Samuel William Bean, May 26, 1919


18 comments:

  1. Very touching story. This is the best of genealogy!

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    1. Yes, it's the stories that endear our ancestors to us. That is the best part of genealogy for me, too.

      Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. It means so much to hear from those who've been by and shared these stories. They are--the stories, that is--the only way we get to know the people we've never met, who have, even so, made such an impact on our lives.

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  2. I bet his Mother was very proud! I couldn't help but think of that crazy movie..was it the Big Chill..where some friends are too drunk to drive so they let their blind friend drive because he is sober:)

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    1. Yes! I need to keep Ella in mind throughout this story. She had to be a strong influence on his life.

      Well, Sam accomplished a lot of surprising things in his lifetime, but I don't think driving was one of them :)

      I don't think it was the Big Chill...could it have been If You Could See What I Hear?

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  3. Oh wow, what a beautiful poem. It reflects the beautiful soul who wrote it. Sam was an amazing young man.

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    1. Oh, Jana, yes he was! I only wish I had gotten a chance to meet him. He must have been inspiring. Actually, he's the inspiration for why I learned American Sign Language (along with his grandson) while I was in college.

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    2. Jacqi,

      You know ASL? That's way cool! I have a friend who also knows and teaches ASL at a charter school.

      I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/follow-fridayfab-finds-for-march-22-2013.html

      Have a great weekend!

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    3. Thank you, Jana--as always--for mentioning this post in your Fab Finds column in your blog. I always appreciate the honor of a mention--and greatly enjoy reading those gems you've discovered online across the wide spectrum of genealogy blogs.

      And yes, I've learned ASL. It's been so long since I've used it, but I used to be at the level where I could interpret. Kinda chicken to see how I'd do at this point...

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  4. I bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house, as they say.

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    1. It's amazing to see how much support there was for Sam in that community, Wendy. Although you have to admit: everyone in that graduation ceremony had faced huge challenges of their own, too.

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  5. I agree with all of the above. It must have been easy to love him. He was a wise and eloquent young man whose lack of self-pity and sense of hope and determination are inspirational, even today. Thank you for sharing him with us, Jacqi.

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    1. I know it was a battle for Sam to reconcile himself with his fate after that tragedy. I don't know how long it took him to come to that point, but it certainly was a marked turn-around. Linda, I'm glad you find it inspiring. I'm sure that would have made Sam glad.

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  6. Good heavens. Through some miracle of the human spirit, he was able to write those words, feel them, and say them. Are those glasses in the photo to protect any light from getting into his eyes, so that he might someday have an operation?

    I am waiting to see whether that hopeful doctor was right, to any extent, in his prediction. Sam ought to be known, as Helen Keller was. You could write a book about him . . . but I guess I'm assuming there is more to his story after his graduation and marriage, both of which were miracles enough.

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    1. Oh, Mariann, if I can get enough material on Sam to do so, I would love to tell his story in book form! Thanks for the encouragement.

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  7. "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Attributed to Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher.

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    1. Iggy, that is such an apt quote for this situation! Thank you so much for passing that one along!

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  8. So inspiring!!! Thanks for sharing... Regards, Catherine.

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    1. Thank you, Catherine! And thanks for stopping by!

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