The Boy Who Sees with Sound

Benjamin Underwood develops a special echolocation system, which usually is used by bats or dolphins, to detect the surroundings around him so that he can get to any destination without a cane, a common tool for blind people. Retinal cancer claimed both his eyes when Ben was three years old. However, he always says, “I am not blind. I just can not see.”

The attitude of his mother is contributing to the extraordinary ability to push the limits of human perception. Ben’s mother always told her son, “Your name is Benjamin Underwood, and you can do anything.” She gave him the confidence and the bravery to challenge the physical deficiency, prompting this exceptional boy to develop his unbelievable echomobility.

I am astonished by the fact that the human being could employ echoes to distinguish the objects and to navigate oneself. This story, again, proves that the mankind has a variety of unknown capability to exploit. If a boy like Benjamin Underwood who has lost his faculty of sight could conquer the all the impediments to learn how to locate himself by echolocation, how could a person like me who is in possession of all faculties give up his or her life goal by any temporary setback or surmountable depression?

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The Boy Who Sees with Sound - by PEOPLE Magazine

To Save a Stranger, Will You Lie between Rails Letting the Train Running Trough You?

What is the feeling of lying on the roadbed between rails while a 370-ton subway train roared over above your body? Wesley Autrey, a 50 years old African-American, just experienced this kind of formidable moment. What is his motivation? Well, it is to save a stranger, who fell down from the platform because of unexpected seizure.

I am not only shocked by the incredible plot of this real-life story and the courage of the savior, but also moved by the fact that in this world, there is still somebody willing to risk his own life to rescue the life of a stranger. Many times, when I was standing on the platform waiting for subway train, I used to fantasize lying on the depression between the rails when a train was passing through the station, wondering the possibility of being alive after doing so. This is only a passing whim derived from boredom while waiting for my train. However, I have never thought of that this action could have really happened in the reality on January 2 of this year.

The most impressive moment for me was that the two young daughters were screaming- “My daddy! My daddy! - when the train monster swallowed their father and that stranger. I could sympathize the fright of the little girls at the very emergent moment. What if their father died in front of them? Then that day could become a haunting nightmare in the rest of their life. Fortunately, this supposition did not become a truth.

Life is a miracle. Everybody should cherish each moment of his or her life. On the other hand, to give others a hand when one could is a virtue that might be an old-fashioned one, but should last forever.

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