Once a French Professor of Calligraphy, Valentine Hauy, handed over a franc (French currency) to a blind passer-by. The boy turned back and asked the Professor if he had given him a franc by mistake. It is common that when we want to help a beggar, our hands search for the lowest denomination in our wallets. Most of the time, we even make an excuse that we do not have change.







So this little blind boy was surprised at his donor’s generosity when he could have given him a lower denomination. Hauy allowed the beggar to keep the franc although it was a great deal of money in those days. What caught Hauy’s fancy was not the innocence and gentleness of the blind boy but the fact that by the mere touch of a coin, he could identify it.







If by moving one’s finger over the coin, the blind boy could identify the denomination, the professor decided one could invent a system of reading for the blind. He started a school for blind children and prepared special books with embossed letters for them. His experiment was a great success and he became known as the ‘Father and apostle of the blind’







It also happened that one of his students, Louis Braille, blind by birth, entered Hauy’s school at the age of ten. Realising the disadvantages of Hauy’s system – only a reading system – Braille further invented the writing system for the blind when he was just 15. This is prevalent today as ‘Braille Lipi’ or Braille Script and accepted all over the world.







Those with vision light up the world for others using their many talents. Those with insight make the world a peaceful place to live in.







But those who just ‘see’ and do not strive, just bury their talents…..