by Charles H. Crawford
Today I write with sweeping anticipation of something as plain as the sky above us and as mysterious as the universe that lies behind it. In many ways I feel as if I am entirely unworthy to compose a true testimony to this subject, yet it is my privilege and honor to do so; I write of the final publication of the history of the American Council of the Blind.
Soon the story of our movement and the people who shaped it will be available to blind and sighted people everywhere. Each page will rekindle the embers of hope and longing of our founders for a place where all blind people are valued for who we are and not for what others through social prejudice or philosophical arrogance would have us be.
Surely the book is a story of leaders and the values that kept them centered on the task of serving the people. Yet it is more the story of our people whose direction to our leaders came from their everyday experience of living as blind people across the land. A leadership and an organization fueled by the aspirations of blind people everywhere born from our hope and washed clean by our tears.
The ACB history probably won't become a national best seller, yet it is a book to be read and treasured by every blind person. It is as much a story of each of us as it is of our organization. While the book is, indeed, our story, it also summons the magnificent spirit of every person and points to a future where all blind people can build their lives on a solid foundation that underlies every word in the book; our belief in one another and the plentiful harvest for all people that comes from a pure seed planted in the firm ground of human affirmation and nourished in a democracy that understands the greatest symphony comes from the contribution of every instrument.
Thank you to those who researched and wrote the history. Thank you to the leaders who have given us the gifts of your talents and sacrifices in the service of our dreams. And thank you to every member who has allowed all of us to share in your hopes, struggles and successes as we continue to write the next chapter of our history with every new dawn.