[guide.chat] Letter to Louis Braille

From: "clare moulds" <clare@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Guide Chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 15:56:06 -0000
This was sent to me. This letter sums up how important braille is to those of 
us who use it and what a wonderful invention it is. That's the reason for 
sharing this with you and I know all of the braille users on here will agree. I 
have been using braille all my life and even though I don't use it as much 
these days due to technology taking over I still use it to label my CD's. It's 
a lifeline which we hope will never die out. I wonder if this will start a 
discussion about braille. Here's the letter.

Dear Uncle Louis,

I am happy to celebrate the 203rdh anniversary of your birth and would
like to gratefully acknowledge your contribution in my life.  In fact,
it is only due to you that I am what I am today.  You probably could
not have imagined at the time when you created a totally new script
the monumental development that it was.  But let me assure you that
you are God for most of us especially in places where people are not
living in palaces and owning large properties.  Your script is the
greatest gift that has been bestowed upon us.

In these days of so-called modernization, it has become fashionable to
look down upon your invention as either out of date or even worse
archaic but those that talk that way do not realize what mistakes they
are committing.  In fact, it is only through your contribution that
more and more of us who are deprived of light have been experiencing
the divine light and live our lives with fair amount of success.

I have always believed that even when people will give up your script
(hopefully that day will never come) you will still have won as the
contribution that you have made in our lives is indelible.  Even today
when computers and other media have come about people are still
talking of Electronic Braille displays.  And yes, there is no
alternative for reading and writing and no other technology will equip
the poorest of the poor amongst the blind to access the printed word.

Let me thank you for the immeasurable hours of pleasure you have given
to fill my solitude with the treasures of the creation of the greatest
authors and poets resulting in broadening the vistas of my knowledge.
You have filled void in my life on days when I had given up on life
and only through reading some of the greatest works of literature I
have been inspired to continue.

On another note, in the world filled with parochial conflicts, uncle
Louis, yours is probably the only script that can be written in any
language of the world and if it were used by all we would rid the
world of the conflicts that have created havoc in our lives.

I am extremely pained to read about the treatment meted out to you in
your lifetime but unfortunately the world is a place where mere
mortals have always failed to recognize great souls and later
worshipped them as Gods.

There has been a fashion to find out alternatives for your script but
let me assure you that those of us who have benefitted by your
invention will never let this happen.  Braille has a place that is
very difficult to be taken by anyone, least of all by scripts that are
very rudimentary.

Dear uncle, on this 200th anniversary of yours, let me share with you
one secret:  the linguistic skills that I possess have all been
developed by you and had it not been for you I cannot imagine my
status.  I am horrified when I hear that these days' children are
discouraged from learning "literacy" but as Jesus Christ had said:
God forgive them for they know not what they are doing.  I hope that
God will send you back amongst us and save my brethren.  People are
not even aware of the immense loss that they are suffering.

May God let the better senses prevail.  I cannot thank you enough for
making me what I am and let me assure you that till the last day of my
life I will work for the propagation of your great script and will
create awareness amongst all classes of people about its efficacy and
utility.  May God grant you the highest place in his divine abode and
may you come to us one more time to recreate the great atmosphere for
the literacy of my brethren.
-- 
Ketan Kothari
[guide.chat] Letter to Louis Braille

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