Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three

 I happened some time back to meet a woman named Eva, from Jogyakarta, who has of late, after chatting on several occasions, taken an interest in my MS, thereby dragging me back toward somewhat of an interest myself, which is not a bad thing, really. I mean, I probably should stay somewhat up-to-date on things and maintain a knowledgeable bearing toward my own disease, not only for my own sake, but for the benefit of others who may be curious. As it happens, this woman manages a medical clinic and so is understandably interested in all kinds of health problems. Moreover, MS may seem especially intriguing, as it is pretty much unknown in Indonesia. 

Such conversations are also a good lesson on how difficult it is to convey specialized or technical information through a second language, for of course one is suddenly confronted with categories that fall far outside the normal repertoire of everyday language. How to speak of T-cells trespassing the blood-brain barrier and attacking myelin coating in the central nervous system? Right? 

But there are things we can talk about that are more readily expressed and comprehended. I was telling her, for example, about the trouble I have with memory and with facial recognition. In this case, what is conveyed may be readily comprehended but not so readily believed. 

So it happened that some time after we had been chatting on the Hello Talk app this morning, I received a message through Whatsapp.

Hi. Recognize me? OMG ... don't say that you forgot me ...

There is a profile picture on the account but no name. I look at the picture, enlarge it. No bells ring. 

I type a question mark in reply.

Another message appears on the screen. 

Gosh ... it really happened! 

I type an apology, explaining that my memory is not good. 

Okay. I'll give you a clue. Hello Talk.

Hmm, I replied. Well, I've spoken to hundreds of people on Hello Talk. 

Okay, here's another. We were talking just a few minutes ago.

Oh! Oh dear. Hi, Eva.

So you see several chunks of critical information had already fallen into the black hole where my memory used to be. It's not very surprising that I failed to recognize Eva from her photo, as often enough I will fail to recognize even people who are standing right beside me. What is more jarring is the fact that I had forgotten that I had just minutes previously given her my Whatsapp number so that we could have a voice chat later on. The message from an unnamed contact should have told me instantly that this was the person with whom I had just shared my contact information. And yet I was clueless. I had no guess who this person could be until she mentioned that we had just got done talking to each other. 

Amazing! Eva exclaims. I didn't know whether to believe you or not.

Well, it is amazing, isn't it? Even to me. And it is somewhat useful to examine these failures in comprehension--not because one might teach himself to think more clearly--it's not that simple--but just that he may be more acutely aware of the reality of such malfunctions. You cannot will these bits of comprehension from falling out of place, but you can be aware that they may at any moment have done so. Eva was very apologetic about her little test, but she needn't have been, for the test is helpful for me as well.