A GLIMMER OF LIGHT IN A DARK TIME.

Various victims of oppression have said that they found glimmers of joy even in the darkest of times. During war or imprisonment, I've heard that people discovered ways to have fun and even laughed at certain situations.

Though I've never been in a battle or a correctional facility, the authorities of Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind repressed independent-minded children like me. From my Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) memoir, here is one of those shining moments in an otherwise bleak time of my life.

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The school provided us with exercise of a different sort than the twenty-five-mile walk that May. One of the administrators took the trampoline out of storage and dug a pit for it near the gym. Mr. Moiarty marched everybody down to it one evening. Each of us took his turn on the trampoline. When Mr. Moiarty bounced, his heavier weight caused it to touch the water at the bottom of the pit. All of us, including our supervisor, laughed heartily at the absurdity of it all. As nobody else could make a splash, we begged Mr. Moiarty to jump as high as he could.

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Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Click here to read more about this book and to order it. You may also e-mail me directly if the comment form doesn't work.