What is life?

Helen Keller lost her sight and sound at 19 months of age. A baby, she was deaf and blind. Her parents sought the help of Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander was working with deaf children. He referred them to the Perkins Institute of the Blind and a young instructor, Anne Sullivan.

Helen did not understand that every object had a unique word identifying it. Anne Sullivan would place an object in one of Helen’s hands and trace the letters of its name in Helen’s other hand. Helen Keller did not understand and would hurl the objects away.

One day, Anne Sullivan ran cool water over one of Helen’s hands while tracing “w a t e r” on the other hand. It was then Helen understood the motions symbolized the idea of water. Freed of the frustration of a dark and lonely silence, Helen Keller shed a tear of real joy.

Years later, Helen Keller would say: “Life is a daring adventure or nothing.”

The young girl came from nothing. There were no sounds or sights. Now, every touch was an adventure, and she cried for joy. She would not go back. In 1904, she graduated from Radcliffe College, the first deaf person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The deaf-blind girl went on to become a famous writer, speaker and activist known the world over.

Carl Sandburg was hailed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as “the voice of America.” A writer and poet, his words and his poems hold the joys and tears of a young nation. Of the motions and signs of the passing years, Carl Sandburg shared this: “Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.”

Sometimes you weep, and sometimes your picture is in the paper. That happened for Carl Sandburg on February 12, 1959, when he addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. His was a life well lived, full of tears, joys and media attention.

Ogden Nash, the lyricist and witticist, said of another person in the limelight of the media’s kinder attentions: “Her picture’s in the paper now, and life’s a piece of cake.” Life is a piece of cake. It’s pretty fantastic. Now, every minute seems to require so little effort. Everything is so easy.

It can be that way. As some have felt, it may not be so easy. Life may not always be a piece of cake.

Forrest Gump was not very smart as smart is; but, as his mother taught him, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Forrest did not do stupid. He did quite extraordinary in his quiet, humble, unsuspecting, determined and accepting way.

The movie “Forrest Gump” was the Best Picture in 1994 and Tom Hanks was Best Actor for his portrayal of Forrest. The movie starts and ends with Forrest sitting on a bench at a bus stop with a box of chocolates in his lap telling those who sit down beside him the story of “Forrest Gump.” With the remembrances, there is always the offer of a chocolate, accompanied by this line: “Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Life is like a box of chocolates. In Forrest’s life, Jenny was the love of his life. She was the sweetest touch, the happiest tear and the very best birthday surprise. Jenny dies young. Forrest, beside her grave, wonders if life has a meaning or purpose, or if it is entirely random? Forrest is truly extraordinary. He has a feeling that, somehow, “maybe it’s both.”

An adventure or nothing,

An onion and a tear,

A picture in the paper,

A piece of cake,

Meaning or purpose,

Or random as a box of chocolates?

I’m with Forrest.

In some mysterious way, maybe it is all of the above.

I think that’s what he learned from his Jenny.

Trees swaying in the summer breeze.

Standing, talking, touching.

Dreaming of her.

Grandpa Jim