DEAF TO THE SOUNDS OF THE WORLD

I’ve always wondered what it is to be deaf to the sounds of this world where so many creatures live in, humans and animals, insects, pests and rodents.

In my lifetime I’ve never really had any personal relationship with someone who was deaf, except for one boy in my early days of secondary school education who was hearing impaired and used a hearing aid that helped him to hear, without which, you literally had to shout right in his face before he could hear a thing you said.

I didn’t stay long at that school so I can’t really say that I had much interactions with him. I spent about a term and half there before my parents admitted me into a different secondary school which supposedly was more disciplined and experienced in impacting education on the minds of adolescents and budding teenagers. And of course this new school was way more expensive, also at that time my parents could barely afford to paying the tuition, but I guess they decided to spare whatever they could to afford me a sound education.

Maybe meeting that partially deaf boy was where this curiosity I seem to have found for the conditions of being deaf originated from.

To never hear any sounds, living in a state of total silence. I wonder what that feels like, because I find myself wondering how those people who are deaf experience life.

I have grown up to adulthood, mostly from learning at an early age how to identify and understand the sounds I have heard coming from the world where I live in.

The sounds of the voices of my parents.

The sound of silence, but even then it is never really totally silent. Except maybe in few moments of my unconscious state, like when I am asleep, literally. Or when I am too high on some exuberance, trying to ease off accumulated stress or just drowning in some momentarily depression or sessions of meditation. I’ve experienced so many forms of silence, and discovered even that there is a way to find silence even in the midst of a crowded and noisy place.

The sound of music. My mother used to love the movie titled “sounds of music” where the catholic nun falls in love with a captain in the army… “when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I will feel so glad!”

My father I could say loved music and was always coming home with new audio cd plates when I was younger. Fela Anikulakpo Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Celine Dion. Michael Jackson. Bob Nesta Marley, Rasta. Phil Collins, Micheal Bolton. Just to mention a few of the music artists that I got introduced to through the influence of my father. With time technology got better and music certainly did get better, although you could still find some exceptionally and beautifully unappealing music once in a while.

The sound of the horn of cars.

The sounds of nature.

Some sounds I learnt are composed of words or sentences and are spoken with the intention of establishing some form of communication within the human community.

Hence I guess led to the establishment of the institution of education in society.

These sounds have been important in every step of the way, but more importantly has been my interpretation of these sounds and my understanding of the emotions and reason that they provoke in my mind.

So whenever my mind fleetingly drops on the subject of being deaf to the sounds of the world. I can’t help but find myself wondering what it feels like to be deaf to the sounds of the world.

To never hear a sound.

To never fall in love with music.

To never hear a word of love or hate, or of any meaning.

A life of total silence from the sounds of the world.

I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse.

Is the human soul of a deaf person less corrupt because the deaf never learnt how to hear? I imagine deaf people cannot learn to speak as well, because they cannot.

And how they will never be able to even learn the sound of their voices.

If a deaf person could speak, will the person talk loudly or softly because they cannot know the strength of the sound of their voice?

Will they have some sort of comprehension of how to compose words that they have never even heard spoken before into meaningful sentences?

Can a deaf person become an established writer? Are there even any accomplished deaf authors and writers?

Can a deaf person become a poet? Or even be able to enjoy the joy of being able to write music?

Is a deaf person more spiritually developed? Because, they never learnt how to hear. I imagine that they mostly likely can brag about never telling a lie in their lifetime, also never saying a word of hate or maybe any word for that matter.

Some of these questions I realize can be answered by a Google search. But those that cannot be answered by Google, those questions are mostly what mesmerizes my insanely curious mind.