He is none other than the great German musician cum composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, of Flemish ancestry.

Ludwig van Beethoven exact date of birth is not known. It might have happened anytime from 15 to 16 December 1770. The family lived in an attic apartment along Bonngasse in Bonn, Germany.

Both his grandfather Ludwig and his father Johann were musicians. When Beethoven was about five years old, his father gave him his earliest music lessons on the piano.

Beethoven gave his first public performance when he was eight years old. The talented young prodigy had his first music published in 1782. Ten years later, he relocated to Vienna to study counterpoint and composition under some of the most renowned composers and pedagogues such as Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri.

He worked very hard to establish himself as a composer and virtuoso pianist. He was the first composer without an official position during his adult life. His good relations with the town’s aristocracy guaranteed him a secured income.

Things had actually started to become bad around 1796 when Beethoven began to suffer from a severe form of tinnitus. The ringing sound in his ears made it difficult and almost impossible for him to hear and appreciate music. There were times when it became so bad that he was thinking of ending his life to get out of his misery and despair.

During the period around 1800, his works include many of his most popular compositions and masterworks. Within this decade, Beethoven produced countless masterpieces in every genre. It started with the Eroica which has became a landmark in his musical development. Others were Symphony No.4, Piano Sonata Op.57, the Emperor Concerto and the Egmont Overture. His only opera Fidelio was also the most heroic of his masterpieces.

Gradually, Beethoven enhanced on his high classical style to become more dynamic and individualistic. His ventures into new undiscovered grounds had made crucial evolutionary contributions in the development of tonal music. His joys, pains and sufferings of real life were reflected in this completely original style of music. Beethoven has always been described as a transition figure in the history of western music.

By 1820, Beethoven was almost totally deaf and slightly mad. But he continued to produce great notable masterpieces with a density of musical thoughts that surpassed all his previous compositions. They were combinations with a wider range of harmony and texture.

This final chapter of Beethoven’s musical life included the last of his supreme achievements such as his last five Piano Sonatas and String Quartets, the Ninth Symphony with its choral finale as well as the Missa Solemnis. They represented him at the peak of his powers.

The hearing disorder had also affected his social life. He faced difficulties in social interactions with sudden outbursts of anger or bad tempers. These subsequently led him into isolation from the outside world as he became troubled and tormented with personal problems.

Beethoven health and mental state continued to deteriorate and he caught a serious cold in the fall of 1826. This developed into pneumonia and he died on 26 March 1827.

Beethoven had devoted his heart and his mind to the writing of his compositions. He was someone who can immerse himself in his work completely and be transported into another world during the compositional period. Although he was in deep depression and even contemplated suicide in the later part of his life, he was able to let his musical imaginations grow beyond normal circumstances.

His greatest achievement was to be able to write notable masterworks despite of not being able to hear. The pair of ears is the most important to any musicians or composers but Beethoven was able overcome this enormous challenge.

When faced with life’s challenges, would you be able to overcome all obstacles just like Beethoven or are you still living in a world that no sounds can penetrate through?

- Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
16th president of USA

- Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)
English essayist, poet, & politician

Does anyone know that Thomas Alva Edison created more than eight hundred light globes before he made one that finally worked? By a small carbonized filament and an improved vacuum inside the globe, he was finally able to produce a reliable, long-lasting source of light on lower current electricity.

When Edison was seven years old, he has already developed a fascination for anything involve mechanically and chemical experiments. At the local schoolhouse, after enduring his persistent questioning and self-centered behavior, his short-tempered teacher eventually declared that his brains were either addled or scrambled.

His furious mother quickly took him home and began to tutor him herself. She was convinced that her son unusual demeanor and hyperactive behavior were just signs of his remarkable intelligence.

Although Edison had only three months of formal schooling, it did not deter him from finding ways via independent self-instruction to appease his ever huge appetite for knowledge in contemporary mathematics, physics and engineering.

Before he began his career as an inventor, he sold newspaper and candy on trains running from station to station. He became a skillful telegrapher after being trained for only three months. Telegraphy related inventions were some of his earliest master pieces.

Armed with an immeasurable patience and a kaleidoscopic mind teamed with photographic memory, his highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge led him to scores of experiments and eventually his own related theories.

By the turn of the 20th century, Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history. He had developed hundreds of devices and gadgets that improved lives around the world. In addition, he was often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory which was build in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Among Edison’s most famous inventions is the first practical and long-lasting light bulb. He also refined and developed other gadgets such as the phonograph, typewriter and the motion picture projector/ camera.

All these happened despite being partially deaf. In fact, his handicap did not hinder him from pursuing his dreams to invent. Instead, his deafness allegedly aided him because it blocked out noises that disturbed him and his work.

How often are we faced with difficulties and problems in our daily life? And how often did they slow us down in our progress? Did we treat them as challenges and play them to our advantage like the way Edison has done? Or did we stop what we are doing and give up trying?

Quotables
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

- Thomas Alva Edison (Feb 11, 1847 – Oct 18 1931)

One day, he told his wife, Sophia Peabody, an illustrator and transcendentalist, that he had lost his job. Instead of feeling angry or worried, she was overjoyed that he can then fully devote all his time to writing.

Without her encouragement and support in making such changes in his life, he would not have been able to become one of the key figures in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation’s colonial history. Neither would he be able to complete some of the greatest novels ever such as The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun.

Changes are happening unceasingly around us. The world is changing constantly everyday. Either we adapt and grow with it or stay still and wither.

Changes, like challenges and pressures, can bring out the best in us.

Changes always start with a thought.

Successful people like Nathaniel Hawthorne are the people who have mastered the art of change. They are not afraid to move out of their comfort zones. They are the people who have cultivate the courage to live outside their comfort zones.

They understand that if they wish to succeed, they have to revisit their prior actions and approach their goals differently. While reaching for their innermost goals, they are not afraid to act or change their ways to achieve different results.

Some of the main reasons that may hinder us from achieving our goals may be the fear of failure and our inability to be flexible.

It will probably take us quite some time to look into these reasons, find ways to overcome the denials, think of solutions to control them as well as the planning and integration of new behaviors and habits.

When you were in school, have your teachers ever reprimanded you for daydreaming? The usual scolding will usually start with, “You’re living on another planet!”

Listen to what the teachers have said.
Think beyond the normal and you may find your true authentic self along the way.

You must dare to dream!

We have to learn to create an environment around ourselves where we dwell only on achievements and not failures. We will meet difficulties along the way but we have to treat them as learning lessons which aid in our growth. We should welcome all challenges ahead and remind ourselves every step we move forward is a tremendous gain in our lives. Success is in our hands, as long as we think we can achieve, we can.

Just remind ourselves that when the situation gets tough, only the tough gets going.

It is believed that Thomas Edison created more than eight hundred light globes before he made one that finally worked.

Just keep on striving and we will eventually be welcoming sweet success at our doorsteps.

- John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) US diplomat & politician

Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. When she was nineteen months old, her life changed dramatically. She fell ill suddenly and the doctors did not expect her to live. Miraculously, the fever subsided but Helen’s illness had taken away her sight and hearing.

Helen grew up to be a very difficult child, terrorizing her family with her bad behaviors and temper tantrums. Looking after her has became too much of a challenge for them.

However, the situation changed on 3 March 1887. It was the day when Annie Adams Sullivan, a 21 year-old graduate, from the Perkins School for the Blind, was engaged to become her governess and teacher.

Annie taught Helen how to finger spell through repeated use of the manual alphabet with finger movements. But Helen was unable to understand what her teacher was trying to tell her. She also did not understand what the finger movements meant. Unable to express herself, Helen continued with her temper tantrums and screaming.

The epiphany came for Helen Keller on 5 April 1887. On this fine summer day, Annie brought Helen to a water pump. As the cold water splashed over Helen’s hand, Annie repeatedly spelt out the word “water’’ onto her hand.

Something about the coolness in the water may have brought out the meaning of the finger movements within Helen as she suddenly realized what her teacher has been trying to reach out to her.

In 1900, Helen started attending classes at Radcliffe College and Annie followed along. She industriously spelt lectures and notes onto her pupil’s hand. When Helen completed her course four years later, she became the first deaf and blind person to graduate from a college.

At the same time, Helen has begun her writing career. Famous books included her autobiography, “The Story of My Life” and others such as “The World I Live In” and “Out of the Dark”.

After graduation, Helen and Anne traveled the world, giving inspirational lectures and sharing her experiences and beliefs to enthralled crowds. She was best remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities and she campaigned tirelessly, raising money to alleviate the living and working conditions of those who are blind and deaf-blind.

Besides writing many books and articles on blindness, deafness and socialism, Helen also appeared before state legislatures and international forums. Her effort brought the world’s focus on problems about the blind as well as creating awareness on the need for preventive measures.

Despite the broad range of her interests, she founded Helen Keller International in 1915. It is a non-profitable organization, supporting and doing research on prevention of blindness. At the same time, Helen also gave her support to the programs conducted by Helen Keller Services for the Blind as well as Helen Keller National Center for the Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults.

In 1964, Helen was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. A year later she was elected to the Women’s Hall of Fame.

Helen Keller continued tirelessly with the good work until her death on 1 June 1968. She has been described as “the woman who showed the world that there are no boundaries to courage and faith; and her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of”.

Helen has proven that people with disabilities or inconveniences are not born to die and they not only can be independent but at the same time, have similar abilities to give endless contributions towards society as normal human beings.

Are you sometimes plagued with countless problems and difficulties that make you feel like it is the end of the world?

When facing such challenges, image yourself as Helen Keller, shut out in a black hole where you are not able to reach out to anyone.

Be touched by Helen’s never-ending spirit and courage. Never give up on your beliefs and preserve till the end.

If Helen is able to get out of her black hole and get ‘reborn’ again, so can you.

Annie Sullivan was born Johanna Sullivan on April 14, 1866 in Agawam, Massachusetts to impoverished Irish immigrants. With two other siblings, Annie and her family lived in a small hovel in dire poverty.

Growing up, Annie was often subjected to the physical abuse by her alcoholic father. At the age of five, trachoma struck Annie, leaving her almost blind. When Annie was nine, her mother died and her father abandoned the children. They were then shuttled between relatives.

Eventually, the relatives sent her and Jimmie, her younger, tuberculosis-stricken brother to the Almshouse in Tewksbury, which was a state home for the poor. Jimmie soon died in the infirmary.

Annie underwent a series of operations to fix her eyesight but these attempts were not effective. She returned to the Tewksbury Almshouse against her will.

Four years later in October 1880, she convinced state inspectors to send her to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in South Boston. Annie’s sight was partially restored after a series of surgeries and with the help of glasses. In 1886, she graduated as class valedictorian in 1886.

In March 1887, the 21 year-old Annie was sent by the school’s director to Tuscumbia, Alabama as governess and teacher to a seven-year-old deaf-blind and mute girl. The student was Helen Adams Keller.

Helen has been a very difficult child with bad behaviors and temper tantrums. The epiphany came for Helen Keller one summer day. Through repeated use of the manual alphabet, as well as much patience and love, Annie finally managed to reach Helen. Her greatest achievement was to become the first person successfully teach a deaf-blind and mute child.

Helen Keller attended Radcliffe College in Cambridge and wrote her autobiography, entitled “The Story of My Life”, which became a famous novel.

Helen Keller became one of the founders of the American Foundation for the Blind as well as a nationally renowned leader for women’s rights. Annie accompanied her around the world on her lecture tours.

Annie received several recognitions from various foundations for her tireless teaching and commitment to her student. Her failing eyesight continued to deteriorate until her death on October 20, 1936.

Although Annie was legally blind, what she had accomplished in her life is definitely much more than most able bodied people such as you and I had done.

As such, we have no excuse but to do all we can everyday.

We should learn from Annie and show perseverance and patience in our work and to do it with zest and gusto!

- King Whitney Jr., President, Personnel Laboratory Inc
ATTRIBUTION: To a sales meeting, quoted by Wall Street Journal 7 Jun 67