Football I.Q.

   

Knowing is half the battle.  - GI Joe

It is good to clarify.  Vince Lombardi, the Hall of Fame and legendary Green Bay coach for which the Super Bowl is named, was a subscriber to this theory, as well.  Once, after a particular humiliating loss to an inferior team, Lombardi began practice by huddling up his players and holding a football high in the air.  Then he spoke these clarifying words of reprimand, “Okay, we go back to the basics this morning…gentlemen, this is a football.

The following is an attempt to give more clarity concerning the game of football that can get confusing with all of its jargon.  Sadly, well into my adult years, I knew nothing of the terms I am about to share with you.  I never played organized football, but rather played pickup games, and often all we would say in the huddle was: Get open. 

Here are some terms I think can expand your football IQ:

The FADE PASS is not when the reception goes blank on your television screen just as a receiver is about to make a big play.  Actually, it is when the quarterback will lob the ball over a beaten defender to a receiver at the back corner of the end zone.  In essence, throwing to where only the receiver catch it.

The BACK SHOULDER PASS is not a pass that you throw over your back shoulder in order to trick your opponent.  Instead, it is a pass thrown when the defender has turned his back in order to keep up with the receiver. The quarterback recognizing this throws the ball aiming at this teammate’s back shoulder, in hopes the receiver will turn around at the last second to catch it.  When thrown well, it is nearly impossible to defend.

The FIVE TECHNIQUE is not a strategy a football player contrives to see where he will be financially in five years.  Rather, the five technique is when a defensive lineman lines up on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. In today’s game, this term is thrown out often and it sounds cool, although the average fan has no clue what it means.

 

A POST PATTERN is not a football player who routinely posts a blog about his feelings after the game.  Actually, it is when a receiver runs straight down the field for about ten to twenty yards and then cuts toward the middle of the field, in the direction of the facing goal post.  It often results in a big gain or touchdown when properly executed.

The RAZZLE DAZZLE play is not when you purchase a bag of multicolored highly sugary candies called Razzles that make your teeth fall out.  Instead, the razzle dazzle is a broad term for a trick play, such as the flea flicker or hook and lateral, where the highly risky play looks like one thing and turns out to be another.

An ELIGIBLE RECEIVER is not a young football player who is actively seeking a potential spouse.  Relatively speaking, an eligible receiver is often an extra offensive lineman, who is not a tight end, that lines up on either end of the offensive line.  This player must report to the official, and often comes into the game near the goal line as a ploy to trick the defense.  When the play is run he pretends to block and often goes uncovered. Sometimes it will result in a touchdown, depending if the burly player doesn’t have butterfingers and can catch.

Last, but not least, is the READ OPTION that is not a choice you give a high school student between choosing a book or watching a video.  The read option is normally when a quarterback, with running ability, takes the ball in shotgun formation and runs with the ball toward one side of the field, with the running back close behind him. The QB will look at what angle the defensive end is coming from and then either run himself or hand it off to the running back who is behind him. If this play is run correctly, it often allows for a fairly big gain.

Now that you have more clarity about football remember to use it wisely, because it is always good to know more, however, it is never good to be a jerk about it.

Football I.Q. is great, but make sure you are investing even more time in being a decent human being.

Swavel

 

Running Late

There is none righteous, no not one. (Romans 3:10)

Its 5-0 what?

    

This was not my best moment.  As I woke up on that fateful morning, a few weeks ago, I was already half an hour late to pick up a fellow employee.  Not to mention, I was supposed to be at work at 5 am.  It just felt like the day was doomed and I couldn’t see how it could be fixed.  My mind was swirling as I yelled at the bedroom wall in frustration, waking up my wife.

  

Then in the midst of my tantrum, my wife asked me, “can I help? ‘ Like a jerk I said, “No.”  My brain felt like an Etch-a-Sketch that had just been shaken clean.  Never mind I didn’t even know how she could help.  In hind sight, I should have kissed her and told her, “it was enough that she cared and that was more than enough help.”  However her mere tolerance of my confused state was a far better solution than telling me to get my act together.

Have you ever wondered what goes through an angry or frustrated person’s mind? Allow me to share some of the things that were running through my confused mind on that particular morning:

1 I’m already late- can’t be fixed.

2- Going to lose overtime pay- can’t be recouped.

3- Have to do reconnaissance and call the two guys from work to tell them I will be late- will be embarrassed

4- Must find the phone number of the guy I needed to pick up – frustrated at being disorganized.

5- After feeling an initial adrenaline rush, my body was starting to drag- can’t win.

6- Spilled coffee on my white shirt as I hurriedly got in to the car and yelled again-disgusted and angry.

7- Driving faster than I should, trying to make up time and save face- needless carelessness. 

Strange as it may sound, our anger can fuel us to do destructive things and, in my case, not be open to sound reasoning. Even when offered assistance by my wife to reset and try again, I pressed on feeling the need to fix it myself.  Notice I choose to let anger overtake my sensibilities.  My wretched human nature needed to be controlled like a matador tames a bull with his flowing red cape, instead of letting it run free, do damage or just act like a fool.

Unfortunately, like all of us, I have acted despicably before.  As a teen, I remember one particular nasty moment when I verbally insulted another guy about my own age for sport. The best way I can explain my poor behavior is with two reasons, albeit not excuses. One being, I was in a fury to impress another friend of mine, thinking incorrectly if I put someone else down it would elevate me. Second being, I had been put down by others in the past and had been hurt and strangely took it out on someone innocent.

My reasoning quickly vanished when I saw my victim’s facial expression and realized what I did could not be undone.  The guy I was trying to impress was even repulsed, which he should have been. Something I detested came over me, kind of like opening Pandora’s Box, and it was awful.  There simply is no good reason to hurt someone else for sport.

Now why would I be such a knuckleheaded jerk?  Mainly because sin is nasty.  Sin by definition means treating others unfairly, meanly, and thinking only of yourself.  In my opinion, anger can aptly be described as a tornado.  It is fueled by anger, frustration, embarrassment, and feeling like a loser.  When all those emotions come to together and then are unleashed by an individual on others, it can do some serious damage to the landscape of those around us.

This brings me back to an excellent lesson my wife taught me that fateful day, while I was being an angry jerk.  Fortunately, I did not take my anger out on her, but I made a fool out of myself and one of my daughters was even awakened by my tirade.  On that day, my wife simply loved me, and love has a way of making anger look like a downright waste of time.

We should never be running too late to allow anger, like coffee stains a white shirt, to ruin a perfectly good day.

Swavel

Any Last Words

Author’s note:

What you are about to read is from a special guest blogger, who happens to be one of my favorite people in the world.  She is my middle aged daughter, Sianna.  Hope you enjoy her sense of discovery and lucid thought, as much as I did. 

Her very proud father, Swavel

 

 

Any Last Words

                I am always amazed at how film directors always create the deepest, most moving, and most touching last words that take up a full minute. In reality, most people’s last words would be screams of terror. It always caused me to wonder what my last words would be. Last words can mean a lot. They can show your appreciation, be funny, or even change the way people think about you after they die. Here are some of my favorite last words:

                My bad. – I always wanted to use funny last words. This was something I want to say if my death is by some silly mistake I made. Like overheating myself by wearing a parka in the middle of summer. I know that would never happen in real life, but I wanted to start out this list on a light tone.

                I thought I’d have so much more time. – These last words are probably not something people would say outside of a movie. I chose this phrase because it’s so true. It’s like in the story where the boy is given a ball of yarn that, when unraveled, can skip through times in his life. Eventually, he skips through everything important including his and his wife’s deaths. Most of us often think that we have so much more time and, in thinking such, waste so much of the precious time we do have.

                I love you. – This phrase is a classic one so often used as last words in movies. It sounds so cheesy, but it’s still true. I don’t want to be like the person in the movies whose last words to their loved ones are an argument or harsh words over something stupid. My dad comes up to me at random times in the day and says, “Sianna, you are loved!” And I suddenly realize how little I tell him the same thing.

                I’m sorry. – I used to listen to a CD series called Down Gilead Lane. In one episode, a man died and the last words to his wife were, “I’m sorry.” This surprised me as the man had been a loving father of three and a strong Christian. And then I realized he was talking about before he was a Christian when he had never really been there for his family. He was apologizing for all the things that he did wrong in his life to anyone. That is why “I’m sorry,” has become some of my favorite last words.

                The simple truth is that I struggle to remind myself that all the things of this world are temporary. My Uncle Tim has often told me things like, “Everyone who has ever eaten broccoli has died.” People would gasp and ask if that was really true while I would think about it and say, “Wait a minute. Everybody dies eventually.” I want the people closest to me to know that I loved them, that I cared deeply for them, and to be proud of me and my accomplishments. 

My hope is this, that when my time comes, I’ll know just the right words to say. 

Sianna

 

Comfort Food

 

Comfort in small amounts is a good thing, however overindulgence makes it difficult to button one’s pants.

Like all of us, life has a funny way of getting me down sometimes, however, there are certain things that can pick up my spirits.  My top two are chocolate and ice cream.  As I have mentioned in previous articles, I make a homemade shake from chocolate ice cream called a Swavel that makes me feel like a happy camper again.

A word of caution, before we go any further.  Comfort foods, if forced upon another individual, can cause stress rather relieve it.    Once, as a frustrated parent, I tried to make my eldest daughter eat ice cream.  Dumb I know, but I had bought it for her at a baseball game and thought it would be wasteful for her not to finish it.  It only made her cry when I started to raise my voice and give her an ultimatum.  Leave it to me to make comfort food something that can upset you.

Often in my life, I have heard more than one person who mentioned that a bowl of ice cream made them feel better.  It didn’t solve all their problems, but it gave them solace for a few moments and an opportunity to relax and disconnect from the world for a moment. Jennifer Garner, star of the move, Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, offered this piece of advice “The best kind of bad days are the kind that are fixed with chocolate reading a book at night and a bath.”

Which begs the question, “why do certain foods bring us comfort?”  An article written by Adi Kochavi on March 3^rd, 2008, in the Cornell Daily Sun offers some clarity.  In her article she quotes the researcher, Brian Wasnik, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of the book, MINDLESS EATING.

The following are some of those intriguing insights which shed some light on the properties of comfort food:

-The three foods most men considered to be their favorite comfort foods were ice cream, soup and pizza or pasta. “Many [men] said that when they ate these foods they felt ‘spoiled,’ ‘pandered,’ ‘taken care of’ or ‘waited on.’ Generally they associated these foods with being the focus of attention from either their mother or wife,” the book stated.

-For women, snack-like foods — candy, cookies, ice cream, chocolate — were hassle-free. Part of their comfort was to not have to make anything or clean anything up.”

-Overall, it appears that comfort foods are “eaten to either help maintain a positive mood or to repair a negative mood,”

-Past associations with foods are the most common reason a food becomes a comfort food. Some of these associations can be linked to specific individuals or specific events. They also come to be associated with specific feelings that one likes to recall or wants to recapture,” he stated. “In all instances, the general feelings evoked — feelings of safety, love, homecoming, appreciation, control, victory, or empowerment — are ones that pull us to these foods.”

Coincidently, both genders seem to find ice cream as a food that comforts them.  Off the top of my head I don’t know the molecular break down of ice cream, but somehow it just seems to soothe most everybody. With that being said, this article is making me hungry for a chocolate shake.  And why not, life is short and within reason it should be enjoyed more than just tolerated. 

Swavel

 

Grapes Explode

 

Life is usually a lot less painful if we only we paid a bit more attention to it.

Just the other day I heard this interesting fact, grapes explode if you microwave them. A great fact, albeit a little obvious.  Then again when I look at my own life I have done some pretty dumb things myself.

So, I made a list of things I have done and/or things I strongly suggest you not try:

1- Don’t microwave anything containing aluminum foil.  At my first job I tried to microwave a cheesesteak in a brown wrapper, unbeknownst to me, that was lined with aluminum foil. Consequently, it caught on fire and an elderly lady from work stomped on my sandwich till the fire went out.

2- Don’t lock your keys in your car.  Sadly, this just happened to me in the last year or so.  Bottom line is keep your keys on your person at all times or have back-up keys readily accessible.  Also, I learned my car is not that hard to break into, which should alarm me, but does not for some odd reason.

3- Don’t trim weeds where concealed poison ivy might be lurking, especially if you are susceptible to getting it.  This is a lesson I seem to re-visit every few years or so.  Too much of a hurry seems to be at the root of this problematic state.

4- Don’t turn on too many appliances at once, because you will blow a fuse.  The reason behind this problem is forgetting to consider the consequences and I rent an older house.  Should know better.  If the AC, microwave and coffee maker are all on at the same time, you better be ready to run to the cellar and flip the breaker.

 5- Don’t wear a good shirt when you are brushing your teeth.  Combination of not planning ahead and not caring till it’s too late results in a pesky stain on my shirt.  The temporary solution is to change the shirt or hope it washes out, which it seldom does.

6- Don’t wear a good shirt and then drink coffee. Same solution as # 5.  You would think that I would learn. The lousy part about coffee stains is that they hurt a little as well, not to mention it is a little embarrassing trying to dry your shirt at work with a hand dryer.

 

7- Don’t leave ball point pens or markers in your pants’ pockets when they go through the washer.  This is a serious point of contention with the family and I understand why they feel this way.  Reason being is that I have an obsession with always carrying writing utensils with me at all times.

8- Don’t drop electronic devices or else you might break them.  Aka Tom Brady.  I added this one to make myself feel better.  If a pro athlete can ruin his phone, than we all should feel a little bit better when we do something a little klutzy.

9- Don’t forget to check the oil in your car on a regular basis.  Sadly, this is lesson I have derived from personal experience while dating my wife.  What can I say, I missed the automotive gene in my family, but there is still no good excuse for that one.

10- Don’t step on LEGOS in your bare feet.  When you do step on a LEGO without protection, and I have, it is like stepping on shards of glass.  Automatically you feel an uncontrollable urge to utter bad words.

Therefore what should one take away from observing such mishaps?  The answer is simple: be more compassionate. As a result, when I see other people stumble in life or get poison ivy, which I currently have, I need to give them the benefit of the doubt and not pass judgment on them.  But, for the grace of God there go I.

We laugh when we hear that grapes explode in a microwave, yet many of us are making a mess of our own lives by making similar nonsensical choices.

Swavel

 

Rusty Cable Wire

It is good to remember what was, learn from it and continue moving forward.

There it was, treetop height above my head, an old rusty cable wire stretched from one side of the river bank to the other.  It hung in the air like a well loved memory, begging for its story to be told.  So, here goes.

  

Just the other week my family and I went to a picnic on the Lehigh River, about seven walking miles from Easton.  It was there that we were generously offered the opportunity to take a speed boat tour of the river,  As my wife and two girls were enjoying the ride we drove under a strange, rusty cable wire.  So, my wife asked the driver what it was dangling ominously over our heads.  He replied that it was the only remaining object left from a onetime amusement park called Island Park that had been abandoned years ago.

Island Park, located near Easton, Pennsylvania is a fascinating story.  Built in 1894 it was a quaint little amusement park that captured the early twentieth century imagination. It was quite the charming amusement park for its day.  A trolley company built the park on an island, spanning up to 100 acres.  To get to the park the trolleys would run from Easton, then along the scenic Lehigh river and then finally over a trestle onto the island.

The park’s notable rides consisted of a roller coaster, merry-go round, Ferris wheel, and a miniature Black Diamond train.  There was also a dance pavilion, picnic grooves as well and an outdoor amphitheater, where John Philip Sousa performed on more than one occasion.  Quite the place for the young and old alike to relax and enjoy a little bit of heaven for a day.

Sadly, the ill-conceived park gave way to Mother Nature when numerous ice flows during the winters decimated the trolley trestle more than once.  Consequently, in 1919 the park had its last season and then closed selling off all their rides. Hard to believe something so wonderful had an expiration date, but life is funny that way.

As we continued cruising on our boat ride, it seemed sad that what sounded like a  once magical place now lay hidden by an over gown mass of greenery.  As if had never been inhabited at all. A tree shrouded island with secrets waiting to be told had fallen victim to here today and gone tomorrow.

 

All of us, like Island Park, follow this premise: we are created, we exist, and then we ultimately meet our end.   Which leads me to this major burning question - will you leave a lasting impression with your life?

May all our lives be remembered for more than just a rusty cable wire.   

Swavel

Author’s Note: Information about Island Park was taken form an article in the Morning Call written  on Sept 11^th, 1994 by Denise Reaman

 

My Eulogy

Strange, but I think it wise to plan ahead for one’s death, so the following is what I would like done and read when I am dead.

- If at all possible, I would like my funeral service held at the graveside of where I will be buried.

- If feasible, I would like the article, BETTER THAN BACON, printed in my funeral bulletin.  It is included for your convenience directly below my name.

- Preferably, I would like my son, Jordan, to read My Eulogy.

MY EULOGY

   :)

We all die someday, best to leave evidence of a life well lived behind us.

To those I have known and loved,

If you are reading and or hearing this, My Eulogy, I am no longer here. To be honest, I’m not surprised.   I knew it was coming, like it is for all of us.   My expiration date has come due and my new address is in Heaven with Jesus. Not of my doing, but all His, woo-hoo for me!

In my honest estimation, there is way too much confusion at funerals. Throughout my lifetime, I have been to my fair share of funerals and have heard plenty of eulogies, where other people say what they think you believe or add in their own ideas.  Then they tend to remember the best about you, true or not, full of much emotion, and perhaps even cry.  Then they leave and eventually as life continues go on about life.  However, for me I think God wants people to know what I was about and I better have been about His business or else I was wasting my time on this planet.

The toughest thing to handle about death tends to be is that it is so final. The following are some profound lyrics written by Steven Curtis Chapman that convey my sentiment regarding my death:  I’ll SEE you in a little while, I’ll SEE you in a little while. It won’t be too long now. We’ll SEE it on the other side, the wait was only a blink of an eye.  So I’m not gonna say goodbye, cause I’ll SEE you in a little while.  No need to worry, I will see you again, if you know Jesus that is and we’ll catch up on things then.

  

To me, our bodies are a lot like a plastic Wal-Mart bag that carries our soul for as long as it can and then sadly wears out.  Paul tells us in the Bible that, we brought nothing into this world & it is certain that we can carry nothing out. When we die we will travel light when we meet our Maker.  Remember, the only thing that ever truly mattered anyway is what we have done with and for Jesus while we were here. 

So, that’s it. If you are interested in other thoughts that God impressed on me feel free to read my blog, PERHAPS.  Most specifically the article called Whoa Moments from April 14^th, 2014. Till we meet again, walk with Jesus, get to know Him and then share Him with everyone you meet.

My eulogy is only a record of what I did with my life and I pray that when God does the editing it will make sense.

Swavel

***********************************************************************************************************

Here is what I want in the bulletin

Better Than Bacon

In my final words, I want to impress on you the need to be right with God.

Make sure your exit strategy for eternity is undersigned by Jesus.

A little while ago, my family and I flew into Texas for my son’s graduation.  It was there at the hotel check-in counter I had an epiphany.  As the manager handed my credit card back to me she made mention of complimentary breakfast and then she uttered this profound thought:  bacon on Monday. 

The words hung in the air like I had just won the lottery, because who doesn’t love bacon?  Especially the free kind and nothing would be better than bacon on our last day before a long flight home to Pennsylvania.

Needless to say the bacon was alright, but in many ways it sounded better than it actually tasted.   It got me to thinking that so many of us are living our lives, me included, like how we make and eat bacon, leaving a greasy mess.  Many of my relationships, and how I do things when I do my own thing, leave a lot to be desired.  Consequently, I have left a lot of smudges.

Come to think of it, so many of us are so set on doing our own thing and when we get what we want, like that bacon, we are disappointed.  Simply put, heaven is better than anything we can come up with on our best day, even bacon.

Here is my exit strategy on how to live life, while trying to avoid the smell of the bacon, better known as the cares of this life:

Pursue Jesus so closely that you have to hang on to His shirt tail, so that all you can see is Him.  Similar to when I take off my glasses and wander down the halls at work, while I just keep following the florescent lights overhead.  It never fails; I always end up at one of those bright orange exit signs leading me to the way out.

Truth be told, no one gets out of this life alive: we all die.  Therefore, we all should have an exit strategy when it comes to death, so as to make the most of each precious day we have.

Meeting Jesus is so much better than bacon that you’ll forget it was even an option.

Swavel   

At A Loss

A truly wise person uses few words…  Proverbs 17:27

We live in a chaotic world, to say the least.  Subsequently, we can fight against ourselves, fight amongst ourselves or come to grips with it and do something about it by choosing our words wisely.

Months ago, there were riots in Baltimore, Maryland, that were so dangerous they had to cancel Orioles’ games.  Does this make sense? No. However, I love the video where the one mom is grabbing her son by the arm, while yelling at him to not to join the mob.  While he’s trying to break free and pull his hood up, she’s still speaking a few choice words of wisdom trying to convince him not be such a fool.

Just the other week, there were nine people killed ruthlessly in a church in Charlotte, South Carolina.  Does this make sense?  No. What also doesn’t make complete sense is that because the killer had a hatred for people of a certain race there has been a call to remove the Confederate flag from all public areas.  Initially, I agreed because the Confederate symbol can be seen as somewhat inflammatory.  Nonetheless, the idea of taking the Confederate flag down may be soothing to those it offends, but in reality the flag had nothing to do with the killing of those precious souls.  A demented lost soul was responsible for that despicable act.

History tells us that Hitler and the Nazis, in an unspeakable evil act against mankind, killed over 11 million people during the Holocaust.  Does this make sense?  No.  It does not make sense either that some try to deny it.  I believe this is a phenomenon that some people  have because they haven’t witnessed the event personally with their own eyes of how brutal and cruel  humans can be to one another.  Truth is we live in a sanitized world and can’t even begin to imagine the evil that the Nazis and Hitler unleased on those they hated.  They were trying to take over the world and the mentality was that if you weren’t with them, you were against them. 

Several years ago, I saw proof in a museum there that were people that jumped into Niagara Falls to see it they could survive.  Did this make sense?  No. I once read of an account of one guy who jumped in about 10 years ago.  What he said was not anything revealing except he hit hard and going over the Falls was like being in a giant tunnel, going straight down, surrounded by water . The reason he jumped was he was struggling with depression and it seemed more of a result of one man’s search for 15 minutes of fame, than anything else.  This act of silly foolishness did cause the man to realize that life is worth living.

The truth is sometimes there is no real good answer as to why some people act a a certain way or why some things happen the way they do. Now, by no means am I demeaning anyone who wants answers to many of life’s debilitating questions,   However, sometimes there are just no answers or answers we must wait to get from God Himself.

Quite simply the conclusion I came to is this: God Is God and I am not.  I think the biggest problem I had with God’s way of doing things in the past was he does not have a suggestion box, nor does He take advice from me.  However, the more time passes I have realized it is good God does not consult a flawed human like myself, because I would just screw things up.

For one moment though let’s apply this principle.  What if Noah questioned God’s reasoning and refused to build the ark.  The answer is God was not changing his plan and all of us as we know it would be dead.  And I would not be typing this thought or any other thought for that matter.  Another example is what if Jesus had refused to be born of a virgin, live for 33 years, unjustly be convicted of wrongdoing and die alone.  The answer is I we all would be in a world of hurt and none of us would have hope for Eternity.

The list can go on, but the point is with God you must have faith in Him or else you can just do your own thing.  The reason I don’t do my own thing is I have done nothing to cause my own existence, can do little to guarantee its continued existence and know I have an expiration date,

Being at a loss for words is a lot better option  than wasting your breath trying to explain something that is purely elusive.

Swavel

Connect the Dots

 If you never step outside your comfort zone what you are missing will never come find you.

About four years ago, I was introduced to a language I had heard about but never fully understood how it worked.  The language is Braille and it was created to help the blind read and communicate.  It is one of the most fascinating languages I have ever experienced.  What appears to be a random sequence of bumps, that makes little sense to the untrained eye, is in actuality a six dotted domino, with each cell representing a letter.

This language was created by the remarkable Louis Braille, who to say the least had a rough life.  He was the Steve Jobs of his day, however being an innovator back in his day did not wield him any power or bring him any recognition or profit.  Rather he was disdained for his innovation and brilliant ideas.  He even died in the prime of his life.

 Louis Braille was born in 1809 in Coupvray, France, during Napoleon‘s failed attempt to conquer Europe.  The challenges began early at the age of three, when Louis suffered a devastating eye injury while playing with his father’s saddle making tools.  Subsequently, he lost his eyesight because of the infection that set in and from the primitive treatments of the practitioners of the time whose methods instead of helping did permanent harm.

Despite this setback opportunity knocked at the age of ten when Louis was selected to attend a special blind school in Paris, four hours from his home.  It was there at the age of twelve that he was introduced to night writing or artillery code, a precursor to Braille.  This was a primitive way for the blind to read using dots and dashes that were raised or embossed created by a man named Captain Barbier.  His code of dashes and dots was complicated and clumsy, seeing it used huge cells and needed more than a fingertip to read.  Louis took to this form of communication and at one time met the Captain personally to make some helpful suggestions to make it easier to use.  However, Barbier didn’t take kindly to a blind child’s suggestions and become annoyed refusing to listen to him.

Not one to sulk, at the age of fifteen Louis Braille unveiled a new alphabet in which he created 63 ways to use a six cell dot, where all the symbols fit under the fingertip. This would eventually become known as language we today call Braille.  Louis also worked hard on the Braille music code he wrote while in his twenties.   Also, in his mid-twenties he contracted tuberculosis which most likely came from a poor diet and unhealthy living conditions.

In his mid-thirties people began publicly to call the dot system by his name: Braille.  Sadly, before widespread distinction could reach him,  Louis Braille died at the age of 43 on January 6, 1852.  For a while, due to ignorance mixed with jealously, there were some who tried to ban the use of Braille among the blind, with a big complaint being the Braille dots do not resemble print letters.

Regardless, two years after his death in1854, France adopted Braille as its official communication system for the blind.  Eventually, Louis Braille’s system spread throughout the world and of course still bears his name today   Braille has been adapted to nearly every language on earth and remains the major medium of literacy for blind people everywhere.

So, I guess it just goes to show we must never give up when it comes to helping others to see what really matters.  Thank goodness, Louis Braille didn’t just throw his hands up in disgust and go in sit in a corner and pout. Instead, he showed the world he knew what he was doing. 

Connect the dots is a great reminder that our world only stays complicated if we allow it.

Swavel

**Footnote: I gathered information for this article from this website:  www.brailler.com/braillehx.htm