The year was 1939. The month was September. Only days after World War II broke out.

The woman was so moved to tears when she read the headlines of war in the papers. Her first thought was, “Another war?”

She was 59 years old. She’d already survived one World War in her lifetime. Now another? When was it going to stop? When were the men in suits going to quit playing chess by slaughtering the innocents?

They say she sat down and cried. Actually cried. Cried for all those people. For the horrors being committed. For all those young soldiers dying. For all those innocent families, wretchedly caught in a whirlwind not of their making.

The first thing the woman did was wipe her eyes and go into her office. She sat down and typed a letter. She had to stop typing a few times and dab the tears.

This is her letter:

Dear Friends—I have been following the news of the past few weeks with a heavy heart. I know that the night is dark, and that the shadows are deep. But I also know that the sun is still there, and that the light is still stronger than the dark.

We are all blind and deaf until our eyes are opened to the truth of our own souls. The news may be bad, and the reports of world strife are indeed a sorrowful burden, but the spirit of man is good.

Let us not be discouraged by the reports of the world’s strife. Let us rather be the light that we wish to see. It is in times like these that we must hold fast to the belief that the wrong which seems so strong is but a passing shadow.

The real map of the world is not the one drawn in blood and boundaries; it is the one drawn in the hearts of those who still believe in the triumph of the light.

Let us not be discouraged by the darkness. Let us rather be the light that we wish to see. For even in the deepest night, a single candle can show the way to a miracle. We must work together, for in unity there is a strength that no darkness can overcome.

With my warmest hope,

Helen Keller