Intro: Wall-to-Wall Thansgiving

Intro: Wall-to-Wall Thansgiving

That is my article for the first of this year’s Kernel Books. Here
are the introduction and the article for the second:
WALL-TO-WALL THANKSGIVING
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
Most American holidays have a double significance-what they are, and
what they imply. New Year’s Day, for instance, means just that, the beginning of
another year. But it also means reviewing the past, planning for the future, and hoping to do better.

The Fourth of July commemorates the establishment of the nation. But
over the years it has picked up a whole host of other meanings-everything from summer
picnics and fireworks to how we should live, and the current state of American values.

And then there is Thanksgiving-and also the present Kernel Book, the
thirteenth in the series. When we started publishing the Kernel Books almost seven years
ago, we didn’t know how successful they would be, but our goal was to reach as many
people as possible with true-life first-person stories told by blind persons
themselves-how we raise children, hunt jobs, engage in courtship, get an education, go to
church, cook a meal, meet friends, and do all of the other things that make up daily
living.

And we wanted to do it in such a way that the average member of the
sighted public would read and be interested. The results have been better than we could
possibly have hoped. More than three million of the Kernel Books are now in circulation,
and I rarely travel anywhere in the country without being approached by somebody who has
read them and wants to talk about them or ask questions.

As to the present volume, Wall-to-Wall Thanksgiving, it is much
like what has gone before. It tells about blind people as they live and work.

What does a blind boy do to earn summer spending money, and what do his
sighted parents expect of him? What of the Viet Nam veteran who loses his sight in the war
and comes home to build a new life? And what about the self-conscious youngster and young
man with a little sight, who is ashamed of blindness and yet has to live with it?

What of the small details that come together to make the days that form
the years-learning to ride a bicycle, cook a steak, read a book, get a job? This is what Wall-to-Wall
Thanksgiving is about. I know the people who appear in its pages. They are friends of
mine. Some have been my students. All of them are fellow participants in the work of the
National Federation of the Blind.

If you wonder why so many of us give our time and effort to the
Federation, it is because the Federation has played such an important part in making life
better for us. In fact, the National Federation of the Blind has done more than any other
single thing to improve the quality of life for blind persons in the twentieth century. It
is blind persons coming together to help each other and do for themselves. That
doesn’t mean that we don’t want or need help from our sighted friends and
associates, for we do. But it does mean that we think we should try to help ourselves
before we ask others for assistance. And we should also give as well as take. All of this
is what the National Federation of the Blind stands for and means.

I have edited the Kernel Books from the beginning, and I have
contributed a story to each of them. My present offering deals with help I have received
from sighted people. Sometimes my reactions have been appropriate and mature; sometimes
not. As you read, you will see that my views have changed as I have grown older. Perhaps
my article, "Don’t Throw the Nickel," sums it up.

As to the title of this thirteenth volume in the Kernel Book series, Wall-to-Wall
Thanksgiving, it is taken from the story of the same name by Barbara Pierce. But like
the various holidays, it has more than a single meaning. With all of the difficulties we
have had and with all of the problems we still face, we who are blind have more reason for
Thanksgiving now than ever before in history.

Unlike many in today’s society, we do not think of ourselves as
victims. We feel that our future is bright with promise. That is so because we intend to
work to make it that way, and because more and more sighted people are joining our cause
and helping us.

I hope you will enjoy this book and that it will give you worthwhile
information.

Kenneth Jernigan
Baltimore, Maryland
1997

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