Seeing vs. Hearing

Am I the only person that has asked himself, "if you had to choose between losing your sense of sight or losing your sense of hearing, which would you choose?"  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Have you?  Which would you choose, if forced to make that choice?

I have asked myself that theoretical question many times in my adult life.  Perhaps I have done it because of my extreme nearsightedness, and yearly needing to get my eyes checked, not to mention wearing glasses since age 5.  Perhaps I have done it because of my love for music and the fact that my ability to hear clearly has deteriorated as I have aged, and I must now wear hearing aids.  But do I value more of what I see than what I hear?

Because music has played such an important role in my life, I have often thought that I could do without seeing.  After all, I have thought, haven't I seen tens or hundreds of thousands of beautiful images and that perhaps I have seen enough?  If someone were to describe a scene to me, couldn't I imagine in my mind's eye what they were describing, and that would be sufficient?  Couldn't I compensate for the inability to see with a heightened sense of hearing?  Couldn't I touch something or someone and get a general idea of what it/they looked like?

But then, couldn't I likewise say that I have heard thousands or tens of thousands of voices, heard ten or hundreds of thousands of sounds and musical pieces?  Couldn't I say that I've heard enough?  Couldn't someone tell me that they were listening to a crow make a cawing sound, or listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, or If I Fell by the Beatles, and recreate that sound/those sounds in my head?

Anyone who has followed Red In Transition for any period of time would realize that I am very involved with my senses.  I have posted numerous pictures, both what I have found online as well has from my own photography. I place a picture at the top of every posting, if not multiple pictures in the body. I have posted three different lists of Top 40 Songs, have posted a video about "Only the Black Keys" which is about music, and commented about wanting to become involved once again in the Southern California Mormon Choir after a few years' absence.  Toward the end of 2013, I almost combined both when I posted pictures of the lyrics of a children's song that deals with the wonder of our senses.

I must admit that at this point of my life, I would greatly mourn the loss of either of these senses.  It would be much easier to give up smelling, touching, or tasting, although I love those God-given gifts as well.

But if for any reason I had to make that terrible choice, as of April, 2014, I think I have transitioned and that I would surrender my hearing.  When I consider the years I have left in mortality, there is much more that I want to experience, and frankly, there is more I want to see than what I want to hear.

I am so very grateful that as of today I have both senses, imperfect as they now are.  Who knows what will happen tomorrow, or years from now?  Today, I will listen to speech, animal sounds, and music, and I will see the blue of the sky, the black of Suki's fur, and the face of the woman I love.