I heard on the news today (while watching coverage of President Reagan's funeral/burial) that Ray Charles (that amazing legend who's been blind since he was 7 years old and has played music regardless) died yesterday. I saw him in concert less than 3 years ago at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a blast. I felt like part of the legend because I got to see him play and I knew he wouldn't be playing for much longer.
I once heard a story about how Ray Charles came to be blind and I was convinced it was the truth because of where/from whom I learned about it. But because I couldn't recall for certain from where/whom that was, I decided to look it up on the internet and see if it was mentioned. And guess what, I heard right (with a few details a little skewed)... even though it sounds a little strange. Just keep in mind that the brain is a very powerful thing. Hallucinations (seeing things that aren't there) come from malfunctions of the brain and we know that emotional trauma can cause the brain to malfunction. Isn't not seeing anything similar to seeing things that aren't there?
So anyway, here's how Ray tells it in his autobiography:
"I guess the first major tragedy in my life was seeing my younger brother drown when I was about five years old. He was about a year younger, and a very smart kid. I remember that well; he was very bright. He could add and subtract numbers when he was three-and-a-half years old. The older people in the neighborhood, they used to say about him, "That boy is too smart. He's probably not going to be very long on this earth." You know old folks, the superstitions they have.
Anyway, we were out in the backyard one day while my mom was in the house ironing some clothes. We were playing by a huge metal washtub full of water. And we were having fun the way boys do, pushing and jostling each other around. Now, I never did know just how it happened, but my brother somehow tilted over the rim of this tub and fell down, slid down into the water and slipped under. At first I thought he was still playing, but it finally dawned on me that he wasn't moving, he wasn't reacting. I tried to pull him out of the water, but by that time his clothes had gotten soaked through with water and he was just too heavy for me. So I ran in and got my mom, and she raced out back and snatched him out of the tub. She shook him, and breathed into his mouth, and pumped his little stomach, but it was too late.
It was quite a trauma for me, and after that I started to lose my sight. I remember one of the things they tried to save my sight for as long as they could was to have my mama keep me away from too much light. It took me about two years to completely lose all sight, but by the time I was seven, I was completely blind."
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