THE AWL 632
We recently, enthusiastically, reread
the story of a shoemaker's awl that is
continually on display at the French
Academy of Science.
This particular awl fell one day from a
shoemaker's table and blinded the eye
of his nine-year-old son.
Within a few weeks, infection took
the sight of the young boy's other eye.
Poor Louis...He spent the rest of his days
in total darkness. However, over time,
Louis turned his adversity into an
advantage for millions of his brothers
and sisters.
By skillfully wielding the same awl that blinded
him, Louis devised a new reading system of punched
dots on paper.
And so, Louis Braille is honored today by the
same reading system that perpetuates his name
around the world.
(First published on June 14, 1979, with slight
revisions made on April 17, 2020.)
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