Under the embracing sunshine of the countryside, where life seems to move slowly and the days seem to drag on longer than they should, Stephen was born. You know he was a child who never knew the light. Do you know why? Well because from his first breath of life the world was for him only sounds, textures and smells. He was born blind from birth. What happened is that while his mother was pregnant before giving birth to him, she had an accident. She slipped down a flight of stairs and hit her belly hard. As a result of this blow, Stephen was born blind. The truth is that this was a tragedy that marked the life of the whole family from that moment on, but it affected Stephen the most.
For him it was more difficult because you cannot imagine what it is like to be a child full of life and not be able to see the world around him. That is something so terrible that only a person born that way can understand it. In his childhood he was very hurt by the comments of his schoolmates who could see. He would only hear their voices saying, “Poor thing,” some would say. “What a future awaits him,” lamented others. And then of course there were the insensitive ones who scoffed. You know Stephen couldn't see the pitying looks, but he felt them like an invisible weight. That's how he spent most of his childhood, amidst the comments. His parents, now two hard-working elders, loved him deeply, but love cannot always dispel worries. They knew their son would face a steep road, and in their worry-laden silences, Stephen asked them questions that even they did not know how to answer.
Fortunately, although he had no sight, he did have good hands and with them a good touch. He explored the world with them, for him they were and still are his eyes. He liked to play with them by sinking them into the ground to imagine shapes he could never see. But the truth is that while other children ran free after their colorful dreams, he wondered if he could ever dream of anything more than endless emptiness. In fact his adolescence was no better than his childhood for it brought him many new difficulties. The most important of all is that his parents were aging rapidly, and although they never told him or even asked for it, they already had the need to depend on a son because they were old and needed someone to take care of them.
In addition, Stephen is an only child because due to the accident his mother had when he was not yet born, she could not conceive any more children. So all the responsibility fell on Stephen for being an only child. As you can imagine this added to his own health problems was more pressure for him. So without anyone telling him he knew he would have to find a way to both support himself and help his family. Because of his situation it would not be easy but he had to try.
Right in his city there was an NGO that was in charge of helping people with disabilities to find work. Well, when he heard about it, he immediately went to see them to see if they could help him find something. When it was his turn on the day of the interview, they told him that there was a job available that he might be able to do. He didn't even ask what it was, he just said “I want it”. Then the person who served him that day said “Good thing you have that enthusiasm Stephen”.
He didn't know at the time that he was going to work in a hat workshop, that workshop made handmade hats out of yarey. This job depends more on tact and manual skills so it was perfect for him as those were just the skills he had to spare. So just a few days after that he started working there. The truth is that the instructor spent little work with him, because thanks to his skills with his hands it was very easy for him to follow the instructions. So he was good at what he did.
Eventually, the mocking or pitying comments gave way to the amazement of all. Having a job was exhausting for him because he had to work harder than those who could see, but that gave him a little pride, because he was contributing to his personal improvement and to the welfare of his parents, because now he could contribute a little more to the house with the salary he earned.
The interesting thing about this story is that among the workers in the workshop and Carlos's co-worker was Carlos. He was a very hard-working and punctual man. A few months ago he had emigrated from his native country to make a new life in the Land of Stephen. The only job he could find available was making hats. No one in life was going to say that these two would come together to change Stephen's life. You see, in his home country he was at one point in his life a music teacher. Specifically he was a violin teacher. He got to work in good music schools, but the economic need of his country forced him to emigrate and end up making hats.
But he still kept a part of his former life. He always brought to work an old violin that was more worn out than anything else. So in his breaks, he used to play it. Everyone liked to listen to it during the break because it helped them to endure the routine and above all to recover a little energy before starting work again.
They know Stephen was one of the people who liked to listen to his music the most. He was one of the first to come to listen and the last to leave. That's why he became very good friends with Carlos. The two of them complemented each other. First because Carlos had a fan of his music and that made him feel good and Stephen's music made him want to keep fighting. The music of the violin, so to speak, called the emptiness that his sight left him. That is why one afternoon, after the last hat was knitted, Stephen approached Carlos and told him to teach him to play. Carlos looked at him with surprise and said yes, he would not refuse to take that wish away.
That is why when the work day was almost over, Carlos began to give him violin lessons. But at the beginning, the lessons were a chaos of mistakes. Stephen was hitting the wrong strings, and did not know where to play correctly. But Carlos was patient as the earth and calmly taught him to listen to the music in his mind before playing it, to feel the violin as an extension of his body. “You don't need to see the notes,” he would tell her. “You just need to feel them.” Then she would hold his hands and help him find where each string was. And so Stephen learned.
As the months went by, the simple Stephen who only knitted hats now knew how to play the violin, and very well. Now he and Carlos played the violin together during their break times and even organized several street events to earn more money. Everyone liked to listen to them play, especially Stephen, who was amazed at his ability despite being blind.
The talent Stephen was building was soon noticed by a local band looking for a violinist. They heard comments about how well Stephen could play and how good it would be for the band to hire him because that way they would both win. The band would gain a lot of popularity because of his ability. So they contacted him and to everyone's surprise he agreed to join them. He did it mainly because it was a great opportunity to get ahead and above all to build his life. It didn't take long and the band was already touring all over the country. Many were just going to see him. Now he had a lot of fans.
And thanks to this he started to earn a lot of money that he could now use to build his future and give the best life possible to his aging parents.He never thought about it but Carlos was the one who changed his life by teaching him how to play. That's why on Stephen's recommendation the band hired him too. Now Stephen had everything he never thought he would have, like success, friends and a bright future, one that his eyes never imagined he would ever see.
Credits: The images used are free to use and royalty free. They were taken from pixabay.