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his peers.

The one thing that made all of the above even more unusual was that Mumbles was totally blind. He had help from his seeing - eye dog, a note taker for his school classes, and a room mate who helped him find his strange combinations of clothes.The crowning highlight to this story is that when he graduated with honors, he also moved on from a room mate to marriage to a beautiful girl whom he had met through a literary group that exchanged poetry. When he graduated he also had an excellent job waiting for him as a financial consultant to a large corporation.

At one point in his senior year in college a journalist with a city newspaper interviewed Mumbles and happened to ask him what advice he had for young people who were coming along behind him. He mumbled something funny, like, 'tell them to watch out for my old banana peels'. But then he said, 'No, I'm sorry. You and they deserve a real answer and here it is. Please tell them to know two very important things. Know them, I say and if they don't know these two things with all of the fiber of their being then do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to become convinced of these two things:

First, the environment we all live in, though it might appear to be hostile in its nature and random in its actions, is really a very loving and intelligent and meaningful environment. Whether you call that environment God or Nature or the Universe doesn't matter. Know this - it loves you and its ultimate goal for you is success, happiness, and becoming all that you can be. The second thing is very like unto it. You - no matter who you are or what your circumstances seem to be - you are a gift from this environment to the world and the times in which you live. There is no one else like you. There is no one else that can do the job or fulfill this gift to the world besides you.' Then he looked the journalist in the eye and with a smile said, 'And that is true of you also dear friend!'

And with that, according to his school friend, he mumbled something and with a wave goodbye he actually skipped, I mean really skipped down the hall, with his dog trying to keep up with him. So, George, that guy you saw today really is a story that you might want to follow up on."

I thanked Ed, and as we went back to my "getting off" street I began to go over how I would go about getting an interview with "Mumbles". This guy really IS a character. Or, perhaps I should say, "He really is a gift!"

Learn more about this author, Donald Hancock.
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