plus qu’hier moins que demain

One Voice,
Two[-enty] thousand volunteer hours,
Three combined rehearsals,
Four the people, by the people,
Five volunteer welfare organizations.

It was fun, it was touching, it was a great learning experience.

Sister posed this sobering question after the concert - ‘would you rather be deaf, blind or wheelchair-bound?’ By this question, I assume she meant profound deafness, total blindness and losing the ability to even move one’s legs [there are varying degrees of the three-mentioned]. Taking it as such, and ignoring the finer details [losing hearing, sight or mobility when born or in the later years, etc], I believe I would choose being wheelchair-bound, reasons similar to sister’s - ‘both have problems with mobility, but at least the wheelchair-bound can see where they’re going, or not going’. Helen Keller’s famous quote - blindness cuts you off from things; deafness cuts you off from people - also plays a significant part in me choosing the third over the first two. Really, I cannot imagine my life in total darkness [although metaphorically speaking, it is in darkness now], and neither can I imagine a world without music [though it may happen one day], yet I guess I would feel differently if I really am wheelchair bound.

But when it comes down to it, nobody has a choice, do they?

Look at them, what do you know?
Look closer, what do you see?

I see…

talented musicians,

smart students who overcame the odds,

a person of strength who has walked is walking the difficult path and is still surviving,

impish, lively boys, and

the most endearing lil’ sweetie who charmed me with his exclusive flashes of smiles [I think he was having a tummyache. =/ ].

Addendum: Something that irritates me to hell - when people make comments in the line of “oh, you’re working with those Deaf and Dumb?” It rankles me, truly it does. I guess having volunteered in the Deaf community for some time have made me sensitive to such words, such remarks. Let me explain, though it is never once and for all. The Hearing Impaired [HI] are not mute, and neither are they stupid [as the word 'dumb' implies]. Most HIs I know can speak [though not all can speak well]; it’s just that they choose to speak a language which they are more comfortable with - sign language. These days, more and more HIs are receiving auditory-verbal training and speech therapy; I know of some who can speak as well as most of us. Some of the younger HIs do not even possess sign language knowledge; they converse the same way others converse, though majority of the older generation still sign. And there is certainly nothing. wrong. with. their. IQs. Is speaking with hands and listening with eyes so unacceptable that people have to label them as ‘Deaf and Dumb’? Would you like people to label you as ‘Hearing and Dumb’? Cmon, practice a little bit of sense and sensitivity. So for friends who read this blog, never address the people as such in front of me or you are just asking for a slap.

s t a r m | s t August 25th, 2005

• the volunteer