The Peace Of Silent Darkness

As a child, I was blessed to know a blind man. Now, I have a friend who is deaf. It's a blessing too. I have known a large variety of people. People from different countries, different religious, gay and lesbian people, and people with different disabilities and medical conditions. I consider myself blessed for knowing all of them. I learned early in life to be interested in learning about the differences. They are all wonderful people. But, this time I am talking about two specific wonderful people.

My Mom's mom worked at an organization for the blind. I forget the name or her title. But, I remember a party we went to there when I was a kid. It was probably her retirement party. Grandma always had a big heart. She grew close with a nice blind man while working there. I think he worked there too. When she came for holidays and celebrations, "M" was with her.

I used to bring him things. As he held them, I held them too. While we held them, I would describe them to him. I remember once I poked holes into a paper writing a nice note for him. Of course I never knew braille so the letters were like the ones in this post, not in braille. "M's" dying wish was for my Grandma to marry him. She did before he died.

 

My deaf friend teaches sign language in New Jersey. I know very little sign language. Because of that, we mostly communicate through a dry erase board. A favorite hobby of his is photography. It's a great hobby all around. Anthony is also a NY Giants fan. There isn't a lot we can talk about, but there doesn't need to be. Our dry erase conversations are about happy thing. Anthony loves children and children love him because they accepted his deafness, his language, and his deaf culture. They view Anthony as a friendly and caring deaf role model in their communities across New Jersey.

Anthony has a cochlear implant. It provides him with a sense of sound. It doesn't restore hearing. But it helps him get a representation of sounds in the environment and helps him understand speech. It required surgery but improves his quality of life.

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/cochlear-implants

"M" was and Anthony is a very happy person. Both were/are very well liked. They were/are peaceful people. It's not easy when not all of your senses work. Sometimes, people forget that you can't see or hear and act like you can. How many times a day did "M" have to remind people to describe things to him because he was blind? How many times a day does Anthony hand over his dry erase board with the words "I'm deaf write it down, please" written on it? I send my prayers to the blind and deaf people of the world! Whether your world is silent or dark, I hope it is full or peace!!!


American Foundation for the Blind:

http://www.afb.org/default.aspx


National Association of the Deaf:

https://nad.org/