I recently reread an article I had filed in 1964. The article introduced me to Maxine Ziegler, Doctor of Psychology, in the following words: “She couldn’t just graduate from High School, she had to be Valedictorian; she couldn’t merely run in the top 35 of 3500 USC graduates, she had to be Phi Beta Kappa; she can’t just cook, she has to be gourmet; she doesn’t merely purl, she knits argyles.”
Three months after Doctor Ziegler gave birth to her first daughter she instinctively knew that something was wrong with her baby’s sight. The doctors informed these joyous parents that their child had been born with a hereditary form of cancer which results in retinal blastoma. This inheritance came from a mother who had refused to bow to the heaviness of this same handicap throughout her life.
Once again, faced with what seemed like an insurmountable challenge, this blind mother and an equally devoted father turned their energies into positive actions and dove into the laborious process of giving substitute stimulation to a child born into a world of darkness. “What a sighted baby enjoys through colors, we gave her in the feel of things. She was alert, aware, maybe near genius in intelligence.”
Under her parents’ loving, tender, patient care the child grew and at the age of two knew smatterings of English, Spanish, German and French. At three she could conjugate verbs in four languages. With special numbered blocks she was well into long division before she started the first grade.
Even as I write these words a tingling sensation goes up the back of my arms, continues up my neck and starts the process of moistened lower eyelids. Throughout my life I have been thrilled and affected by stories like this. Stories of people whom I consider to be real heroes, who face the trials of life and not only crawl over them, but subdue them and come forth victorious.
Maxine Ziegler was a living example of her creed ‘I CAN’ and has gone on to inspire and instill in others, like myself, a desire to obtain this attribute. One small paragraph, in particular, from the article makes my heart leap for joy. “When mother says, ‘lights out,’ two little girls (two other children added to complete the family by means of adoption) squeal delightedly and snuggle in bed for the reading aloud continues as blind Evalinda’s fingers dance over the words.”
This is where I really become inspired, as through persistence, diligence and determination some in the world go beyond life’s barriers and triumph over handicaps and turn what seem to be disadvantages into advantages, weaknesses into strengths.
Unlike so many of us, Evalinda’s sightlessness became a strength which gave her an enviable ability to focus and concentrate. At ballet recitals, novice ballerinas kept their eyes on Evalinda when confusion brought hesitancy about the next step. The world viewed through her four remaining sharpened senses seemed brighter and more fascinating that the one most of us see with our full faculties which may have been dulled by apathy and distractions.
There is no doubt, such examples as the Zeigler’s cause me to ponder upon the guiding principles which have illuminated their steps and have contributed to the wholeness and fulfillment of their lives.
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Jacob 12:27)
