Learning without letters

Many years ago, when I was a young nurse, I had a patient who was illiterate. She had spent only a brief time in elementary school, and hadn’t “learned her letters”. She was quite elderly, so it had been something on the order of 75 years since she’d had any formal schooling at all. She was one of those people who had to “make a mark” in order to give consent to medical procedures.

I’m no Einstein, and I haven’t gone through school as far as I could have or should have, but I confess that I had always felt a bit condescending towards people who couldn’t read or write. I figured there are ways to get back on track to a basic education even if economic conditions or family tragedies interrupt the usual trajectory of education. So I questioned the ability and ambition of someone who remained illiterate well into adulthood. And my patient turned those assumptions upside down.

I remember walking into her room one day and seeing head bent over the pages of a worn King James Bible as she laboriously traced her finger across the page, her lips moving all the while. I was frankly puzzled, and I got a lesson in humility when I learned more about her story.

This woman had faithfully attended her church every time the doors opened throughout her entire life, and her copy of the King James Bible came with her each time. She would sit beside someone who was literate, and this person would point out each word as the Scripture was read. Over time, my patient taught herself to follow along with the preacher as he read the Bible lesson for the day. And although she couldn’t differentiate an “A” from a “Q”, she learned the shape of the words and could read King James English. I've often wondered what she could have achieved if she'd had the advantages I've been blessed with. She'd had virtually no formal education, yet she taught me much. She had internalized God’s Word in a way I could never hope to.

I pray I may learn from her!