Here's is the story of a teenage boy who was born on January 26, 1992 in Riverside California. At age 2, he was diagnosed with retinal cancer and had his eyes removed by age 3.
But here's the thing. He was a blind boy who could do something amazing. He could See! 🤯 This boy could shoot basketball hoops and net the ball every single time (something I still can't do).
He could ride a bike along the street (in fact, not just ride a bike, but complete tricks on the bike). Without a cane, a seeing-eye dog, or any other assistance, he could race up and down the stairs.
He could also walk and run down the street, dodging obstructions on the sidewalk as if he could truly see them. 🤯 How on earth was this possible, given that he was completely blind?
This boy, Ben Underwood, saw with his ears. He made clicking sounds with his mouth as he moved about. The sound he made would rebound off the objects around him, and he had trained his ears to pick up on those echoes and translate them into distance information for each object. It's getting sciencey, but hear me out.
Consider that for a moment.
Consider the kind of training he had to go through, even mentally, to be capable of deciphering all of that data from a single clicking sound.
Not only that, but the fact that had a mind that was able to understand it and interpret it so precisely – in nanoseconds – that it gave him the ability to shoot a basketball into a net, walk, run, ride a bike, and even rollerblade down streets he had never been on or seen before.
How can one get the audacity to even consider mastering the near-impossible art of echolocation. And this was even to the point where he can practically live a regular life as though he could see?!
Ladies and Gentlemen, one word. HOPE!
HOPE: to trust with confident expectation of good
Ben had what he calls a reckless hope for the future. This reckless hope spurred him on to learn to see again, even if it was in an unconventional way.
Today, I'm here today to tell you to hold on, keep pushing, press on, have hope! Learning from Ben, the audacity to hope is all we have, it's all we need, and it's all we've ever got (aside God). My message to you? Have hope. Ego bee! Efor bee! It must to bee! For there's no other option.
Happy birthday to me! ❤️
