Hello?
Helen Keller lost both her sight and her hearing when she was 19 months old.
Perhaps because I am deaf, I’m regularly engaged in light hearted discussions about whether blindness or deafness is preferable.
My answer is, neither.
The deaf/blind debate came up in a conversation last week.
No conclusion was reached - I think it’s a pretty conclusion-less debate! - but someone did mention advances in technology being helpful to people who can’t see/hear.
The following day, I felt my phone vibrate.
I knew it was a call, not a text.
I ignore calls.
I have fairly recently, thanks to technology, begun intermittent calls with my family.
Captions on my screen tell me what they are saying.
Well, the captions try.
And they do a great job.
But sometimes they make no sense at all.
There is a big difference between trying captions with my family, and trying them with who knows who.
My phone kept vibrating.
I looked at the screen.
The call was from a Manchester number.
Anywhere else, I’d have ignored it.
But Manchester is inextricably linked with hospitals for me.
Perhaps my medical team were trying to get hold of me?
But they wouldn’t call, they know I’m deaf.
But what if it’s someone new, who doesn’t know?
But if I answer, what if the captions don’t work?
Etc
In the end, I did answer it.
It was someone from the hospital, wanting to check some details (their tech system was down).
I explained that I was using captions but, as the conversation progressed, I realised I almost hadn’t needed to.
The captions worked very well.
My niece recently told her grandma it was good that my phone has captions, as it means she can call me.
I agree!
It’s also good that I can make non-family ‘official’ calls myself.
Or at least that I’m beginning to realise that I maybe possibly can try.
The lady from the hospital had never spoken to someone via captions before.
And all she said at the end was, ‘Thank you for talking to me.’
No mention of captions.
No mention of the thing that almost stopped me from talking to her.
Thank you for talking to me.
Thank you for answering.
Thank you for saying ‘hello’.
’Call to me and I will answer you…’
Jeremiah 33:3
God will always answer when we call.
Without hesitation.
Always.
Hello….