Just Me

So in the work chat today, my boss asked what song was everyone’s favorite. I decided to pass on participating, but as others sounded off on songs they loved, it took me on a trip along Memory Lane. A lot of the songs they mentioned were songs I heard growing up.   And some songs that I REALLY heard before I lost my hearing.   I jumped into the convo saying that I lost my hearing in 1987, but there were some songs that I heard before I became deaf.   Songs such as “Purple Rain” by Prince and Michael Jackson songs such as “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.” (My entire family were fans of Michael Jackson!)   Another song mentioned, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, is another song I enjoyed before deafness, as well as “The Rose.”   Music was a huge thing in my family. Music was playing in our house every day. We all loved playing and listening to music. I often played music while doing chores. Sometimes we would dance or sing along to song...

My newsfeed blew up today.   Apparently, a YouTuber who goes by the name Mr. Beast was boasting about how he helped 1000 deaf people hear for the very first time after giving all 1000 of those people hearing aids. There was not much information shared about these people who are deaf; nothing about how long they had been deaf, how profound their hearing loss was or if they had ever tried wearing hearing aids before. All that was said about them is that all of them were deaf.   I was skeptical when I first came across the news.  I read the article and, later on, I watched the video. While it was nice to know that those hearing aids helped those individuals who are deaf, I was skeptical about whether or not they understood the sounds the hearing aid helped them to "hear."   Then I ended up taking a ride down memory lane.   When I had first received my own hearing aid, shortly I had lost my hearing when I was 13, I didn’t miraculously hear everything...