The Sound of Silence
Every day we wake up and enjoy the good things of life. We say hello the next door crush, to the wife, to the husband, to the brother, to the sister, to the girlfriend, to the boyfriend, to the boss we hate and the one we love, etc. We complain about our lot in life, we laugh at the little joys of life. We gossip, we chatter, we talk about the desires we hope to achieve, our aspirations, etc. That is called living.
Crossing the road, we look left, then look right. Simple task. We were taught how to do that from the kindergarten. You put your left foot forward and suddenly heard the car noise of the drunk driver doing a 150km/hr in the 50km/hr densely populated residential neighborhood. You instinctively jumped back just in time to feel the close rush of air trailing the now passed mad driver. Wheeeeeeewww! That was a close shave, you might be tempted to shout out some profanity to the driver; even though he's out of hearing. Maybe he deserved it for being such a homicidal reckless pain in the butt.That is just another day for us. We think nothing of it.
We later crossed the road safely and started to hum along to our favorite tone blasting away from the nearest music store. We whip out our phones when we are out of earshot of the song and scroll through the music library looking for that favorite song. We later crossed the road safely and started to hum along to our favorite tone blasting away from the nearest music store. We whip out our phones when we are out of earshot of the song and scroll through the music library looking for that favorite song. No worries if it is not there, we can always download it.
Finally, we find it, then dip our hands into the pocket to retrieve our latest high-quality earphones which were purchased the week before. We plug it in our ears and get transported to the world of Sia as Fire Meet Gasoline. There's no denying she's got a great voice. Some minutes later, we arrived at the train station. We are forty minutes early. Thank goodness, we won't be coming late to the office meeting like had happened three times last week. Minutes crawl by, we could hear the chatter of people, the bustle of the city. A dog barking in the distance, an impatient driver's honk, the carefree giggles of the schoolgirls walking past, the street performer playing a soulful tune with a plate in his front for donation, etc. Life is going on.
Source
Moments later we hear the familiar chugging sound of the approaching train. We fold up the newspapers, rolled up the earphone and return to its receptacle. Walking briskly to the train's entrance, behind, a friend called out our name, and we turned around as a big smile lit up our face as recognition registers. We exchange pleasantries and boarded the train together. The train slowly pulled out of the station with increasing chugging sound. The whistle makes a rather forlorn last call as it gathers momentum. As it reaches its full speed, the sound reduces, and we strike up a conversation with our friends who are sitting in front of us as there is no space beside us. It was easy maintaining conversation as they are within hearing distance. Everyone is minding their businesses, and with the somewhat noisy train, no one objects if you talk.
Thirty-five minutes later the trained slowed and stopped. It is our stop. We bid our friends farewell and whistled for a taxi driver who stopped and dropped us right in front of the office. We acknowledged the greetings from the gate man without looking up or remembering his face, and walked towards the office. Our colleague spotted us through the glass and was trying to tell us something. He mouthed the words but we could not quite get him. The glass makes it hard to hear. Frustrated he gave up. At the reception, we saw a news piece showing a picture of our street, and our curiosity got the better of us, we paused in mid-stride to know what the story was about. The TV volume was too inaudible due to the volume set. We moved closer and increased the volume. The government is planning to build a dual carriageway. Oh, just that? We walked along to the office. While climbing the stairs we saw the colleague that was mouthing words as he was walking down, he explained he wanted us to help lock his car. But not to worry he is going to do that now. We mumbled our apology for being unable to understand; he nodded in acknowledgment.
Mr. Robert lives a life filled with what had happened to us today, but with an exception. We listened to Sia, but he has no opinion on what Sia sounded like. It is news to him that Sia has an exceptional voice. But that news is best drawn as pictures than told. He lives that moment we could not hear our colleague. He lives that moment we could not hear the news but could only see the pictures.He would not have heard the car that narrowly missed running over us. Mr. Robert had never heard a sound. Mr. Robert is deaf.
PS: Show some empathy for the deaf. We enjoy the different music of life, they only hear the sound of silence.
