Not even a whisper.

I know words were spoken.

I saw his lips moving and I observed nonverbal acknowledgement from those nearby and I heard the squawking, distorted, indecipherable response from the addressee two chairs to my right, yet I heard not even a whisper from the speaker who was a mere 12-15 feet away at the front of the room.

Verbal Darkness.

At one point in the proceedings, a joke was made. Everyone laughed; except me. I had no idea.

Previous to last week I was deaf in my left ear but still at 70 to 80 percent in my right. I have experienced a precipitous decline. I am hoping it is temporary.

In many ways this personal experience is analogous to our national experience of being led by wealth and power over the last 250 years. We have always been (to varying degrees) hard of hearing, but in the past 8 to 10 years we have experienced a more precipitous decline in our ability to communicate and understand. For our sake, I am hoping it is temporary.

Verbal Darkness.