Ilostmysightwhen1was4yearsoldinanaccident.NowI'm32.
ItoccurredtometheotherdaythatImightnothavecometolove 36 somuchasIdonowifIhadn'tbeen 37 .Idon'tmeanthatlwouldprefertogowithnosight.Isimplymeanthatthe 38 ofitmademe 39 morewhatIhadleft.
Life,Ibelieve, 40 acontinuousseriesofadjustmentstoreality.Themore 41 apersonisabletomaketheseadjustments,themore 42 hislifebecomes.Theadjustmentisnevereasy.Ihadto 43 inmyself,orelse1wouldhavecollapsed(崩溃).WhenIsaybeliefinmyself,Iamnottalkingaboutsimplythekindof 44 thathelpsmedownanunfamiliarstaircasealone.ButI 45 somethingbiggerthanthat:anassurancethatIam,despiteimperfections,areal, 46 person.
Ittookmeyearstodiscoverand 47 thisassurance.Onceamangavemeanindoorbaseball.IthoughthewasmakingfunofmeandIwas 48 .“Ican'tusethis,”Isaid“Takeitwithyou,”heurgedme,“androllitaround.”Thewordstuckinmyhead.By 49 theballIcouldhearwhereitwent.Thisgavemeanideahowto 50 agoalIhadthoughtimpossible:playingbaseball.AtPhiladelphiaSchoolfortheBlindIinventedasuccessful 51ofbaseball.WecallitGroundBall.
AllmylifeIhavesetaheadofmeaseriesof 52 andthentriedtoreachthemoneatatime.ButIhadtobeawareofmy 53 .ItwasnogoodtotryforsomethingthatIknewatthestartwasoutof 54 becausethatonlyinvitedthebitternessof 55 .IwouldfailsometimesanywaybutontheaverageImadeprogress.