(Selected from CCTV's "TV Poetry and Prose")
In schools large and small in Beijing, this is an inconspicuous corner. It is quiet at the end of a road, with no busy traffic and no towering buildings. The campus is not big, with a spacious playground and several ordinary teaching buildings. However, for many children, this is the brightest part of their world.
This is the Beijing School for the Blind. It is the earliest special education school established in China.
For many children, blind children are unfortunate. They may have been shrouded in darkness from birth, or they may have only seen the world clearly for a few years. No matter what, they are plunged into deep, shallow, boundless darkness every day. It begins in darkness and ends in darkness.
Fortunately, there are always kind people willing to create a beautiful environment for them. They believe that when darkness cannot be driven away, a beautiful heart can lead to a happy life.
In the early morning, the sun wakes this place up. The green trees on both sides were lush, and dewdrops danced happily on the slender grass tips in the lawn. The crisp ringtone slowly opens the door to knowledge.
They can’t see the color of the sun, they can’t see the color of the trees, they can’t see the vermilion school gate that goes in and out every day, and they can’t see the red and white plastic runway. However, they know that on a sunny day, outdoors, the warm feeling on their bodies is given by the sun. They know that in summer, early in the morning, if you approach the small trees, you can smell the fragrance of the leaves, and if you approach the garden, you can smell the sweetness of the flowers. They know that there is a musical fountain at the end of the playground, where there will be wonderful music and cheerful water drops dancing together.
They don’t know what the teachers look like, although the teachers live with them every day. As time goes by, sensitive children can always tell who has come to the classroom from the teacher's footsteps. When they were young, they liked to hold the teacher's hand and explore the dark world step by step; when they grow up, they can skillfully go up and down the stairs flexibly along the school's specially designed barrier-free stairs.
Their world starts at their fingertips. Before they could read or write, they knew everything by touch. Children who attend kindergarten in schools for the blind have their toys and playrooms just like ordinary children. Those toys were as brightly colored as ordinary toys, and the corridor leading to their bedrooms was painted with all kinds of cute children's paintings.
Although they cannot see it, their hearts must be able to feel it. Even though there is no light, this is still a beautiful and lovely world. Children like to play in the musical fountain, listen to the sound of water jets rising and falling, and feel the joy of water sprinkling on their bodies and faces. This reminds me of the story of Helen Keller. When she was a bad-tempered child, her teacher Anne taught her the meaning of "water" in the rushing water. At that moment, Helen was surprised to find, "This living word awakened my soul and gave me My light, hope, and joy free my soul! Yes, there will still be obstacles in the future, but they can be cleared sooner or later."
Yes, maybe it's flowers, grass, water, or the sun... …You don’t know which word may inspire a blind child’s life.
The thick Braille textbook is composed of countless small convex dots. They read it quietly, their fingertips moving dexterously, as if they were traveling through a long corridor leading to the world. If they know nothing about the real world, darkness will always be their deception and obstacle. The school is like such a long corridor, allowing them to start from the moment they step in, start with a little bit of reading and progress, and reach out to the future. hope. At the end of the corridor, there should be a life they can handle with ease.
There is a piano room in the school, the sound of the piano is booming, and a child is intoxicated in the music. His fingertips moved briskly on the black and white keys, playing the music that was already very familiar to him. For blind children who like music, a world that relies more on listening is a world that also requires sensing with the heart. At that moment, darkness no longer matters, they also have talent and the ability to create beauty.
The school for the blind has piano lessons and also teaches piano tuning. Many people cannot imagine that a blind person can operate piano tuning that is quite complicated for normal people. Perhaps they have more sensitive fingertips and a more persistent willingness to create their own lives.
I remember there was a movie about love in which the heroine was blind. Others asked her: "If you can't see, is it pitch black in front of you?" She said, "I don't see everything as pitch black. Black is also a color, but I can't see color."
They can't see colors, but their world still has its own colorful colors. In craft classes, children use paper and scissors to create their world. They have a unique understanding and perception of color, so the colorful works are more like eyes looking at the world uniquely.
The bell rang for exercise class, and they helped each other downstairs and came to the playground to do exercises. Here, they learned to get out of the autistic world and support each other on the road of life.
Sometimes, the children also play football. The football is specially made with bells inside. When the football rolls, it makes a crisp sound, which is cheerful and sweet. The children ran a few steps, then stopped to listen, then ran a few more steps, babbling and exchanging opinions.
During the game, they would hang wind chimes on the goal and make a tinkling sound to guide the children to run enthusiastically.
The bustling city is noisy, but this remote and ordinary corner is constantly warming the world that has lost its light one after another.
The children fell asleep gently, and when they woke up, perhaps there was still darkness in front of them. But if they feel a little more happy and confident every day, then they will see things they have thought about or never thought about in the corners of the city, in the breeze in the treetops, and in one station and another in life. The world and light and shadow I have thought about.