I've always loved this quote. I've loved it because I've always sensed the profound, useful, actionable wisdom contained in it. It has as many layers as an onion and like most profound wisdom, layers keep peeling off over time, and it's not easy to actually embody and live.
I searched it up today to re-read, again, and I found something quite amazing that makes the words even more profound.
It turns out that the version of the quote I'd always know has been altered. It was altered to remove all references to God and faith. Common practice these days so as not to "offend" someone.
But what is the practical effect of removing those words? It made it much more difficult to actually live.
"Faith alone defends."
The quote is from her book “Let Us Have Faith” in a chapter titled “Faith Fears Not”. Deleting this deletes the solution! That missing piece is what is necessary to have a fighting chance at not just understanding this, but actually living it.
Hellen Keller was born blind, deaf, and mute. She overcame that, THAT!, and somehow learned to communicate and write.
Miss Keller’s other books “The World I Live In” and “Out of the Dark,” continued to proclaim her faith that “life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” She carried her faith into action, not merely words, despite being born with more disadvantages and more hurdles than I can even begin to fathom. This made Helen Keller one of the great spirits of the world. She was as simply and manifestly great as the grass is green, and she did not accomplish it alone.
She had one huge advantage over many others.
She had God and faith with her.
