A young father was sitting next to a child, whose cute face seemed be the exact replica of his father. Father. They sat silent side by side, yet deep in a conversation, body slightly twisted towards each other. The little boy did not seem keen to see what his father was saying and looked in front of him with his shiny blue eyes. The father kept touching the child´s tiny chest to get his attention and have the child’s face turning to him. The father´s hands moved fast, drawing bizarre figures in the air. The son replied with some more signs, then again turned his head, escaping once more from the silent dialogue. I looked fascinated and wondered how it could be living with no sounds. The first word which surfaced from my unconscious mind was bliss. No harassing noises travelling through the air, hitting my bones, amplified by the natural hollows of my body until they reach my brain, bomb shelling it until it becomes a useless flabby organ. The idea was so compelling that one Iarrived at home, I made a list of all the things I could finally get rid of or gain from impaired ears.

no traffic noises

no shouting neighbours

a quieter commute to work as no sounds of crying babies, screaming children, loud music and the occasional mad person

no meetings at work

no barking dogs or meowing cats

no noise from the nearby building site

Just by reading the list my heart opened up, salivating about the remote possibility of any of that becoming true. The powerful second section of Verdi’s Requiem reached my window, my neighbour was again playing his favourite cd. My heart sank. I would not be hearing music, with no hearing.  Nor a baby crying when it needs to be fed, a pet who might be in pain, I would not hear the arrogant car coming fast down the lane, threatening my life, the laughter of a friend, the whisper of a lover in the dark.

Ah, now, I could not wish to silence all that and accept to trade the beauty of creative geniuses, the touch love and pain of fellow beings, for a little peace. Then I smiled at my own presumption. How could I possibly say that beauty and human bonding end where a deaf ear starts? My mind went to the little boy, immersed in his silence and yet full of life. Bonding and beauty will find their way through the invisible barrier to reach his heart too.

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