from the July, 2014 issue of Kiai!

Adventures in Darkness: Tom Sullivan Visits TW

 

By Jun Shihan Sarah Ludden
6th Degree Black Belt and TW Co-executive Director


Many Thousand Waves and ASK students and friends came to see an inspirational presentation by Tom Sullivan, along with his guide dog Baron.

In 2007, Sei Shihan Nancy and I received a gift from Tom Sullivan, a signed copy of his new memoir, Adventures in Darkness: Memoirs of an Eleven-Year-Old Blind Boy.  The inscription read: 

Dear Nancy and Sarah, 
This book is about a little boy’s search for a world that loved him.  It seems your
search has found its answer.
Love, Tom Sullivan

I never really understood this message until Tom came to Thousand Waves in May and spoke to us, entertaining and inspiring a gathering of 100 people with music, song and spoken word, a large screen providing audio and video enrichment to his presentation.  We were laughing and crying listening to the stories of his life – from running away from the Perkins School for the Blind with his roommates, stealing the school rowboat and venturing into the Charles River until they were greeted by the shocked and amazed US Coast Guard, to meeting Helen Keller while in the “principal’s office” for another adventurous offense, to saving his beloved 3-year-old daughter from a near drowning in the family’s pool. 

Tom addressed the kids, the adults, the parents, the blind, the sighted, the folks with disabilities, the siblings of children with disabilities, the teachers and the students, all of us. He had a special message for each of us. Tom encouraged us to transform our challenges and disabilities into opportunity, celebrating our triumphs over adversity.  Tom’s love for his wife Patty, his children, and dog Baron, his courage and intelligence, and his dedication to connecting with others and sharing his stories, moved all of us, and connected us to each other. 


Tom Sullivan and his wife Patty meet Larke.
Before the public event Tom and Patty came to the dojo and witnessed our Adapted Seido Karate class, our program for kids with physical disabilities.  They found, of course, the kids to be awe-inspiring, the teachers skilled and dedicated, the families profoundly loving and caring.  Tom met and spoke with many of the kids and their parents and after the event, talked with all the guests lined up to meet him.  It was a challenge for Nancy and me to convince him to leave and come to our house for dinner!

Tom Sullivan is an actor, writer, producer, singer, songwriter, athlete and a renowned motivational speaker.  He travels the world sharing his message.  He offered to come to our Center (for free) because of his generosity and heartfelt connection to the work of Thousand Waves.  When he came to Thousand Waves I understood his message, “your search has found its answer.”  He saw that Nancy and I had found each other.  He understood that we had also found our life’s work and have cultivated a community dedicated to empowerment and peace, healing, and transforming challenge into opportunity.  Tom is our inspiration – he indeed found, as that little boy, a world that loved him, and has worked tirelessly as an adult to love and give back to this world.  He is a beautiful, living example of the zen phrase that inspired our Center’s name, “One wave sets thousands in motion.”   

If you haven’t seen this short video about Tom Sullivan narrated by actress Betty White, Tom’s close friend, and my stepmother, please click the link.