Thanksgiving morning. Just spending some quality time together with my ear, from which, it seems, I will soon be parted. The plan now is to arrange the "amputation" in the next couple weeks, to be done at Siloam Hospital in Kuta, which I like better than Kasih Ibu in Denpasar because it seems cleaner, more modern, and more professional.
My ear and I have had a long history together, having been inseparable for nearly 65 years now. It has heard many things in its lifetime and done its best to relay all it has received to me. It has never made its own judgements, but merely conveyed information through sound, to be sorted out with widely varying degrees of faithfulness in my brain, for the ear itself has never been tainted by its own wants or expectations. I have received, through the properties of the ear, sounds both sweet and bitter, lovely and unlovely. And of late I have heard a lot of ringing, which is not the fault of the ear itself but of an inappropriate neurological process.
Of course, the removal of a portion of the flesh of my ear will have no affect on my hearing (or I wouldn't think so, anyway). Still, I can't help but think that the ear henceforth hearing things will not be the same ear as it was before and therefore may not hear in the same manner. Will it not feel a bit shy in the future? Will it tend to turn away and let its brother, the left ear, do all the hearing? Will it feel self-conscious and unworthy?
Ah well, we shall see. I am, in any case, appreciating its presence, albeit a cancerous one, while it is yet present--giving thanks for this ear which has, in general, done me good.
My ear and I have had a long history together, having been inseparable for nearly 65 years now. It has heard many things in its lifetime and done its best to relay all it has received to me. It has never made its own judgements, but merely conveyed information through sound, to be sorted out with widely varying degrees of faithfulness in my brain, for the ear itself has never been tainted by its own wants or expectations. I have received, through the properties of the ear, sounds both sweet and bitter, lovely and unlovely. And of late I have heard a lot of ringing, which is not the fault of the ear itself but of an inappropriate neurological process.
Of course, the removal of a portion of the flesh of my ear will have no affect on my hearing (or I wouldn't think so, anyway). Still, I can't help but think that the ear henceforth hearing things will not be the same ear as it was before and therefore may not hear in the same manner. Will it not feel a bit shy in the future? Will it tend to turn away and let its brother, the left ear, do all the hearing? Will it feel self-conscious and unworthy?
Ah well, we shall see. I am, in any case, appreciating its presence, albeit a cancerous one, while it is yet present--giving thanks for this ear which has, in general, done me good.
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