第32章 Three Days to See (1)
· Helen Keller ·
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year，sometimes as short as twenty-four hours，but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last years or his last hours. I speak，of course，of free men who have a choice，not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly limited.
Such stories set up thinking，wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past，what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness，a vigor，and a keenness of appreciation on which are often lost when times stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those，of course，who would adopt the epicurean motto of“eat，drink，and be merry，”most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
Most of us take life for granted. We know that one day we must die，but usually we picture that day as far in the future，when we are in buoyant health，death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks，hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.
The same lethargy,I am afraid,characterizes the use of our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing，only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily，without concentration，and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for our health until we are ill...
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods，and I asked her what she had observed.“Nothing in particular，”She replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses，for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.