Maybe these stories will touch you, maybe not, but I feel like they are worth sharing.
Story #1:
So, I was riding Trax the other day next to a gentleman who was folding some origami. As I glanced at him I saw that he was staring straight forward and had on darkened glasses - he was blind. I watched his hands work, independent of his eyesight, as he formed this creation by folding paper. When he finished he reached out his arm and found me sitting next to him. He offered me the origami and said "Here, I made this for you. What does it look like?" I was grinning. I said "Wow! It's a dinosaur." He smiled and said "I can't see what they look like, but I'm glad it looks like something!" Then we talked for a while. I found out that he is a luthier - he makes instruments, electric guitars are his specialty. It was one of the nicest gifts I've ever received :)
Story #2:
As some of you know, I am a note-taker for a deaf gentleman in my American History class. Essentially, I take notes for him so that he can watch his translator during the class, and I email him the notes later. I've done this for a couple other students since I've been at the University, and it has always been a really interesting experience.The other day this gentleman and myself were chatting on gmail, which was the first real conversation we'd had, and the first conversation without a translator between us. He thanked me for the notes, etc, and then we got chatting.
At some point in our conversation I asked if he had been born deaf, and he said no. He had been really weak when he received his DPT vaccine as an infant, and it actually almost killed him. A nurse gave him aspirin and put him in an ice bath - she saved his life.
Weeks later, he was on the kitchen floor while his mother was cooking. She dropped a huge pan - BANG! - and her little boy remained unaffected, though he sat inches away from this huge crash. She took him to the doctor and found out he was 90% deaf.
His family learned sign-language and his impairment has never kept him from living his life. He got an AS in Architecture and worked with a great company in Park City until the housing crash, then he decided to come back to school. He has been married for ten years to another hearing-impaired woman who works for the Disability Center on campus. He is a really amazing guy.
After a while he asked me what I do. I told him about studying Opera at school and told him I am a soprano. He responded,
"Soprano? Never heard of it."
It was at this point that I got really emotional. How do you explain MUSIC to someone who cannot hear? I had never stopped to think that this gentleman might not know what a soprano is. I then proceeded to try to explain it to him in terms that he would understand. It was the most humbling, interesting conversation I've had in a long time. He said that when he cranks up the bass he can "hear" it, but that's the extent to which he hears music.
I am so incredibly humbled to have all my body parts functioning and enabling me to live the life that I'm living. I am infinitely awed by music and the way that it weaves my life together... I can't imagine a world without it.
I've heard that sometimes a deaf person can hear music when they are extremely close to the vibrations. I wonder, if I stood near him and sang, if he would feel my vibrations?
