Walking By Vision Not By Sight

"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision." - Helen Keller

Do you have a clear purpose or vision in life?

Have you thought about this question often enough to push you through, thinking deeply and seriously as to what is it that you want to do in life?

Walt Disney's vision: "To make people happy."

Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller's vision: "Humanity's comprehensive welfare on spaceship earth."

Henry Ford's vision: "To mass produce, mass distribute and have cars mass consumed."

Andrew Carnegie's vision: "To manufacture and market steel."

Mother Teresa's vision: "To care for and comfort the poor, sick and needy all over the world."

Stedman Graham said, "Having a vision for your life allows you to live out of hope, rather than out of your fears."

When I was given the opportunity to reenter the door of education by travelling more than 400 Kilometres from Kuala Lumpur to an island situated on the north called Penang - to be admitted to a fully residential primary school for the blind namely St. Nicholas School; my hope for the future has rekindled and I was filled with great joy and excitement. My vision for the future was clear and repeatedly appeared in my mind.

How did this happen? Why the idea of vision suddenly came to my mind? Yes. Somebody. Somebody who was blind like me. But, she has another two more disabilities - deaf and dumb.

Helen Keller, who was blind, deaf and dumb, despite of her disabilities, had a vision of helping others who are less fortunate. She, guided by her vision, worked very hard to complete her Bachelor and Master of Arts degree in English Literature and subsequently written books of inspiration which had helped many throughout the world. Here is a short extract about her:

"Helen Keller was born, a perfectly healthy and normal child, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, United states, on June 27, 1880. At the age of eighteen months she was stricken with a severe illness, the exact nature of which is not known...

...It left her deaf and blind; as a result of the deafness she soon became dumb also. For five years she remained imprisoned. Then, through Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, to whom her father appealed because he knew Dr. Bell's interest in the deaf, a deliverer was sent to her in the person of a twenty-year-old graduate of the Perkins Institution for the Blind at Boston, Massachusette, a girl by the name of Anne Mansfield Sullivan...

...From the day of Miss Sullivan's arrival on March 2, 1887, the story of Miss Keller's life reads like a fairy tale. Within a month the teacher had presented the gift of language to her little pupil, an achievement in itself so miraculous that fifty years earlier no one had believed it possible...

...Since special education was designed, numbers of those afflicted as she was have been placed in communication with the world. Some of them have shown considerable natural ability, but Helen Keller is today, as she has always been, incomparably the greatest among them. She is the only one who has ever been received, without apology, into the world of seeing. In a college for normal girls to which she was admitted reluctantly and without favour she won a degree Cum Laude in the same length of time it took her classmates to win theirs...

...She has learned to speak - the only deaf-blind person in America of whom this is true. She has acted in Vaudeville and in motion pictures; she has lectured in every state in America, and in many parts of Canada; she has written books of literary distinction and permanent value; she has, since her graduation from college, taken an active part in every major movement on behalf of the blind in America, and she has managed to carry on a wide correspondence in English, French and German..."

Helen Keller has taught many blind people in the world including myself to walk by vision not by sight. She placed utmost importance on vision rather than sight because someone who has sight but without vision is worse than someone who has no sight but with vision.

Someone without vision in life is just like a ship without destination, sailing without direction in the sea. He is just being pushed by people from here to there, do not know what to do; just like the ship being blown by the wind from north to south and from east to west, does not know where to go.

Vision alone is not enough. A vision must be accompanied by action. A Japanese saying put it very rightly: "Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare".

Therefore, only vision with action can give us direction and change our world.

If my vision is to become a doctor, then I need to take the necessary actions to make it happen. So, what are the actions I can take? Firstly, I need to study very hard especially in the science subjects. Secondly, I need to find out where I can study medicine and the cost involved. Thirdly, I need to discuss with my parents whether they can help me financially or do I need to apply for a scholarship.

After identifying the above, I then able to pay full attention to achieving my vision with action. Always remember that nothing can be achieved without the right actions. Many people are trapped in this situation. They have a dream but it is just a dream after ten years, twenty years or even thirty years later.

You have a vision. But, you must be very clear about it. It is your dream. You have a strong feeling for it. You must be excited about your vision. You have a passion for it and you are willing to do whatever in order to achieve your vision.

Your vision must be positive and inspiring. It must be able to drive you towards achieving it.

Finally, your vision must be guided by the right values. Values cannot give you the direction. only vision can. But, values can ensure the rightness of your direction.