Louis was blinded as a child by an infection. He couldn't play games with the other children. He couldn't read a good poem, or draw a picture, or any other normal thing that a child with sight could do. Many probably thought it was shame and felt sorry for him. Perhaps he even wondered what was the purpose of it all.
When Louis was a young teen he moved to the Royal Institute for the Blind in Paris. There he heard of a system of nightwriting developed by Captain Barbier of the French army. Nightwriting was a system of dots and dashes punched into a piece of cardboard, which enabled frontline soliders to communicate in complete darkness. From here Louis began to dream of the possibilities of modifying this system to one day enable blind people to read and write.
After three years of working his ideas, he displayed it's effectiveness to one of his teachers Dr. Pignier. As Dr. Pignier read a passage from a book, Louis punched dots into a piece of paper with his stylus. Louis then read back the passage word for word! Louis had developed a system that would allow blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was only fifteen years old! Louis had a purpose.
What about you? What's your purpose? We all have one you know. Whether we are athlectic or handicaped, super smart or educationally challenged, tall or short, skinny or over weight, we all have a purpose. Louis found his. Will you search for yours? Stop by tomorrow and we'll talk some more about your purpose.
To read more about Louis Braille check out http://www.qba.asn.au/graphic/braille.shtml or visit your local library.
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