Hearing Aids

and "hearing aids" beyond the physical

I am and I believe we all are being called to dip deeply into our souls during this time.

photo courtesy of iStock

This morning my hearing aids became more than physical pieces I put on/in everyday that enable me to listen and hear that which I want and need to hear.

They are now also a metaphor for these times.

Every day I make a conscious choice to loop the aids over my ears, and when I insert the earpieces the world of sound opens.

If I don’t, there are consequences. Almost everything will sound dull, muffled, or unclear. I won’t hear some things at all.

One challenge even with hearing aids is articulation of others. I often need clarification.

Another is music. It is as if tones are missing, or a piece seems out of tune. I do not hear the whole of a musical score. It’s like someone took a pencil and crossed off a certain part. I have to turn the music up to a high volume and almost be enveloped by it to hear the whole.

And if choral, many words are now lost to me unless the music is familiar.

These companions of my life spoke to me this morning.

Writing is a way to sift through perspectives that pop in. I write about them most of all for myself. I choose to share some of what I write in case it might make sense to others or bring a different perspective.

This is what I heard and gleaned.

I can choose to not physically hear. I can leave my hearing aids out.

I can also now choose to not “hear” what is being spoken and written by supposed leaders in this country.

I can allow myself to be deaf to what is being dictated or let what is not clear to me go without doing due diligence. I can let it stay muffled and confused.

I can choose to pretend certain words are not being said, just as I can choose in the early morning hours before I put in my hearing aids to pretend that my cat does not have a purr, crows do not caw, raindrops make no sound when they fall on the roof, and it is silent when wind blows through the trees.

Yet, words are being said that deeply matter. Words are being spoken and written that will impact every single person in this country regardless of leanings.

There is no red, blue or purple when it comes to decisions being made and how they will affect us all. The tariffs are now here, not for any “side” but for all. Some will be able to weather the impact more than others, for which more hardship will arrive.

I cannot afford to choose not to hear or to allow what is being announced to be muffled and fuzzy.

Things that affect us all are not only being said but spewed forth so fast and so mixed and mingled with multiple topics at the same time that it is like the music that is off key to me.

I have to go back and listen again and “turn up the volume” to catch everything.

When in conversation with someone, I have disciplined myself to ask them to repeat a word or phrase without apology (or feeing “less than” with my hearing loss), because what I missed hearing might make a significant difference.

In the same way, I need to be disciplined to stop and ask, “What?” when it comes to getting clarification of that which is being directed by those who want to radically change this country.

And in this case, for example, it is more likely, “WHAT? Did I hear you correctly? Did I hear that someone who has no authority just asked for access to all payment portals that include but are not limited to my Medicare and Social Security information?” Only one of myriad demands from a person with no elected or official authority at all, regardless of whether it comes to fruition.

“Hearing Aids”

We also listen by reading.

While I need my physical hearing aids, perhaps more importantly I need my heart and soul hearing aids, my conscience aids, my discernment aids, my justice aids, my equity aids, and all that is within my being to hear beyond myself for all who live in this magnificently diverse country. I want to attune my listening and acuteness of hearing on behalf of those who are marginalized, living in fear and at risk.

I choose to expand my hearing on their behalf as well as my own, for I and things in my life are not nearly as endangered as for many.

Most of all, may I not just listen, but truly hear. Listen for all the layers of what is behind the words and the signatures. Hear and tune into others I highly respect to try to understand the reality of what it all means.

And then be a voice for protecting our democracy in ways that I can. Each of us can find that which we feel called to and if we all listen, hear, and act on behalf of one another, we can perhaps keep the guardrails in place that have protected us up to now.

As much as the “big issues,” in this moment of a tragic plane crash it is also hearing the unfathomable sting of words spoken by the one who is meant to be the “consoler in office,” as Senator Warnock so eloquently said.

Please faithfully wear these “hearing aids.” What is being said and done can literally mean the difference between life and death, if not for me or you, for others - or complete loss of rights, home, livelihood or health.

In my three quarters of a century lifetime, there has never been a time when this has been so nonnegotiable.

I ask you to lend your ears with mine and then do that which you feel called to do.

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