Quiet

People like to ask, “Which of your senses would you choose if you had to give up one?” I have always hated such questions, but lately I’ve begun to think I won’t miss my hearing much, if I ever lose it. Sounds have been driving me crazy for a while now.
I suppose that’s because I’ve been living in this noisy hell-hole of a city, with a varying number of wonderfully boisterous children, for the past 28 years. Before that, I lived on an Air Force base, where F-106s routinely blasted away whatever small amount of quiet might’ve been found with so many neighbors so close by. Moving here, not far from an international airport, seemed almost quiet in comparison, at first.
Now I have to sleep with earplugs, and sometimes even that doesn’t work. I have sound-insulated windows and doors, too, thanks to the city and the FAA. Still not good enough.
I know I’m spoiled because, when I was a kid, we lived out in the country for a few years, and for a significant portion of the rest of the time, in small towns. The most noise we ever had to endure then was when someone was vacuuming, cutting the grass, or running farm equipment in the nearby fields. I didn’t realize then, of course, how unusual it was to be able to hear far away sounds, and few of them.
I was lucky to be able to hear at all, after suffering a bout of German measles that left me deaf for a short time, according to family lore. My hearing has been about as perfect as can be since then, and I do thank God for that great blessing.
But once, a few years ago, I noticed that I was having trouble understanding when people were trying to talk to me, especially if there was any other noise in the room. I went to an ENT doctor for a hearing test, and tried to start facing the possibility that I might need a hearing aid.
I know I shouldn’t put too much stock in this doctor’s diagnosis because one of the first strange things he did was to sterilize something he stuck in my ear by holding it in the flame of a match for a couple seconds beforehand. I was in too much shock to respond in time to prevent it, and went along for the rest of the adventure, cuz I’m stupid like that sometimes.
While I was waiting to go to the audiologist’s room for the hearing test, I noticed that I could hear a whole lot of sounds coming from the various other rooms in the office- mostly there was the slamming of doors and drawers by some woman who was going around putting things away. I think she must’ve been either hard-of-hearing herself, or very unhappy about something.
She kept this up during my hearing test, too, and I told the technician that she was drowning out the sounds in the headphones. Even after she quit, I could still hear a child crying in one of the rooms.
Before I put the headphones on, I had to ask the guy to change the covers, because they were stained with ear wax from a previous patient. I couldn’t believe that he expected me to put them on my head in that condition, or his nerve at implying that I was being a pain in the behind for asking, which was obvious from his sigh and the reluctance with which he complied.
When the doctor saw the results of the hearing test, he told me that there was nothing wrong with my hearing, and in fact, I had what he called “super-hearing.” He recommended that I avoid going to rock concerts, or it might kill me. (I had been to several extremely loud rock concerts before this- not to mention, blasting rock music in my car is one of my favorite therapies when I’ve encountered a few too many idiot drivers- so I knew he had to be full of crap.) I tried to discuss with him possible explanations for the difficulty I was having with conversation, and asked if menopause might have anything to do with it (thinking the inability to concentrate or something might have been playing a part); he pooh-poohed that idea- twice- and even said something about if I needed that crutch, when I pointed out that I was old enough for it to be a possibility.

The more I thought about this fiasco, afterward, the angrier I became, until I finally reported him to the state medical board. I don’t know if they ever did anything, but his name wasn’t on the office door when I went by recently and checked.

So, anyway, I just hope I can still hear if/when I ever get to move somewhere quiet again. Then my “super hearing” will be a blessing again :)

Sticking it to Smokers Again. How Original.

I knew something like this would happen eventually.
I figured someday the anti-smoking Nazis were going to come after us all for this. Their solution, of course and as usual, is to punish all smokers because some are inconsiderate slobs.
I am a smoker, and I have long been as disgusted as any non-smoker could be by the sight other people's butts everywhere. I picked up the habit from my time in the Air Force of not leaving my butts on the ground: someone was going to have to pick them up- and it was often us.
I am half-tempted, whenever I see fellow smokers drop or throw a butt on the ground, to remind them that our world is not their ashtray. I'll probably be more tempted now, but it will still be just as useless, in my opinion. People who are that stupid don't usually take too kindly to being told they're being idiots, however nicely one may put it.
I don't like littering of any kind, but throwing butts down/out is not just unsightly- it can be dangerous. I see people doing it all the time, especially now that many cars don't come equipped with ashtrays anymore.
So how about nabbing them for littering and/or posing a fire hazard, instead of imposing yet another unwarranted tax on all smokers?
And if they ever catch one of those complete imbeciles who empty their car ashtray on the ground, I think they should make them go pick up butts for a month. That would make sense.
Unlike ideas like Mayor Newsome's.

Kiss my A$$, CAIR

This story bothers me. I'm trying to figure out why.
I don't have anything against Muslims personally, and I've even seen one here wearing a beautiful outfit I wouldn't mind wearing- but only her head was covered, not her face. But it bothers me to know that, if I were to go to a Muslim country, depending on how heavily Sharia law is imposed, I would have to at least cover my head if not wear the whole face-covering burkha-thing when I went out in public. I've also heard that our military, when stationed in a Muslim country, have to hide their Christian jewelry, and aren't allowed to bring alcohol, pork, porn, or Bibles in. (I can understand the porn prohibition, but...) Those are good enough reasons for me never to bother going to one of their countries, assuming I'd ever be able to.
However, when a Muslim comes to/lives in OUR country, instead of following our laws, they are trying to force us to allow them to act as if Sharia law is observed here. I've heard of women trying to get their driver's license photos taken of them in their veils (nevermind that in Muslim countries, they wouldn't even be allowed to drive), which is total BS. Now this woman is suing a judge because he wouldn't let her bring a small claims case before him unless she revealed her face, which he felt was necessary for him to make an accurate judgment. Instead of allowing her to wear a veil, how about letting her have a female judge? Or take the next logical step, if she wants to pretend she's living in a Muslim country, and don't allow her to bring a suit at all.
Or how about allowing Catholics and other Christians (and whoever else) to practice our religion by not making us pay for abortions, abortifacients, birth control, homosexual indoctrination of the young in our public schools, etc, through this misuse of our tax dollars?
You know, Jewish people don't eat pork, either, but you don't see them trying to get everyone else to stop eating it, like the Muslims are doing here.
And Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent, but we don't have a problem with others doing so.
Can we get Holy Water fonts installed in universities with public funds, like they're getting foot baths for the Muslims? I doubt it.
How about paying to bring over and feed, clothe, and house a few million Catholics and other Christians who are being persecuted in China, Pakistan, Turkey, Africa, etc, like Obama recently did with the Palestinian refugees? I mean, if you're going to spend millions of our tax dollars trying to help refugees, at least pick some who aren't our freaking enemies.
I don't see any reason why our country should make any concessions at all to Muslims, and I'm not saying this out of prejudice. I'm saying it because to do so is the most assinine thing our nation could do, when a significant portion of those who espouse that faith want to wipe us off the face of the earth and have been working feverishly to do so for many years now.
When Hitler and Japan tried to take over the world, we eventually got involved, and bombed the holy crap out of both countries and occupied them until we were sure they got that world-domination stuff out of their heads. Neither one of them succeeded in attacking us in our own country, so why are we kowtowing to Muslims?
I'm not saying we ought to bring back the internment camps, and racial prejudice is a truly hideous thing.
But so is treason.

More Heroes

http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2009/05/12/notre-dame-seniors-say-no-to-graduation.aspx

Truly Good News

I have been reading some things lately that have really lifted my heart, and I want to share them with you.
First, a real heroine:
Catholic pro-life leader snubs Notre Dame invitation.
And another pretty brave person.
Then, a sign of hope.
And finally, a light shining in the darkness.