*The Nobel & the Floor-Maid*
The Tewksbury Institute in Massachusetts was known for housing the poor and ill.
A young girl named Anne was sent there after her mother’s death, as her behaviour was incorrigible – which means nobody could do anything about her. She would bite and scream, and throw her food at people. Even the doctors and nurses could not examine her properly. She would spit and scratch at them as they tried to get close. For this reason, she would often be put in a cage – something like a small prison cell, kept in the basement of an old section of the building.
An elderly floor maid who worked there, observed all this and felt very sorry for the little girl. She would often think to herself, “I sure would hate to be locked up in a cage like that.” She wanted to help her, but didn't have any idea what she could do. She would wonder, “If the doctors and nurses cannot help her, what can someone like me do?"
So, one night after work, she just baked a small cake for Anne. The next day she brought it in, walked carefully to her cage and said, “Anne I baked a cake just for you. I'll put it right here on the floor and you can come and get it if you want.” Then she started backing off, out of fear that Anne might throw the cake at her. But she didn't. She actually took the cake and ate it.
After that, Anne was just a little bit nicer to this maid when she was around. They would talk sometimes, and once this lady even got her laughing. One of the nurses noticed this and she told the doctor. They asked the maid if she would help them with Anne, and she agreed. So that's how it came about that every time they wanted to see Anne or examine her, the floor maid would go into the cage first and explain and calm her down, and hold her hand. Which is how they discovered that Anne was almost blind.
After they'd been working with her for about a year - and it was tough with Anne - the Perkins institute for the Blind opened its doors. They were able to help her and she went on to study, and became a teacher herself.
Anne went back to the Tewksbury Institute to visit, and to see what she could do to help out. At first, the Director didn't say anything and then he thought about a letter he'd just received. A man had written to him about his daughter. She was absolutely unruly - almost like an animal.
He'd been told she was blind and deaf as well as 'deranged'. He was at his wit's end, but he didn't want to put her in an asylum. So he wrote to the Institute to ask if they knew of anyone - any teacher - who would come to his house and work with his daughter.
And that is how Anne Sullivan became the lifelong companion of Helen Keller.
When Helen Keller was nominated for the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had the greatest impact on her life and she said, "Anne Sullivan." But Anne said, "No Helen. The woman who had the greatest influence on both our lives was a floor maid at the Tewksbury Institute."
_History is changed when one person asks: What can someone like me do?_
And the smallest act of kindness can have an everlasting impact for all of humankind.
*"Empathy is the automatic tuning in to another's field, what he or she is feeling, what they have brought to you."*
