I think I was about 7 years old when it happened. I don’t remember the event entirely but the colossal amount of fear it etched in my head was unforgettablly vivid. I became aware of it when my parents started questioning my ability to listen. They were scared so I got scared. Like I got second-hand scared. So people have a habit of projecting their fears onto you, don’t let them second-hand scare you!
Alright, back to the story, so to rationalize this fear, I made a “Pro’s and Con’s” list. I admit it, I’m re-labelling that list. Originally, it just had a plus and minus sign on the top of each corner.
Back then, I thought not being able to listen would be “just bad”. Words borrowed from my 7 year old self’s vocabulary. So they took me to the doctor. TURNS OUT, I had an eraser inside my ear! That’s right, an eraser! Oh stupid inside-classroom shenanigans!
So yes, I was relieved. I still had the ability to listen which I was totally going to exploit in the future to misunderstand and complicate things catastrophically. I’m kidding, but isn’t that what most people do? We only listen what we want to hear and not what the other person has to say.
However, this experience taught me something very very important. It taught me how essential it is to teach kids to rationalize their fears. Actually, not only kids, EVERYONE. We all let fear dominate us and when it takes the best of us, we start projecting it onto others because it’s better to be scared together. That’s just wrong. What’s funny is that most of our fears are just irrational. Yet we’re so deep into this process that it’s become more comfortable to be in it and be scared rather than fight it.
“Everyone said to Vincent van Gogh, “You can’t be a great painter, you only have one ear.” And you know what he said? “I can’t hear you.”
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