Talk is cheap. We take pleasure in it every minute of the day. It is one of the bare necessities of life. Could you imagine stepping in the modern world and all you can see is everyone being in a silent movie? But wait what if we would all end this way?
This was the unexpected question we met during our clinical duty. As soon as we got our assignments, we proceeded with our patients. As we enter the male ward, we noticed a man, sitting at bed no. 1 observantly watching us enter the room. He seems to be friendly and pleased. Some of us started to mingle with him and his wife. When we started to talk to him, he smiled, nodded, pointed at us in agreement and made incomprehensible sounds. He is aphasic. He can understand us but he can’t respond to us with clear, sensible words. His wife would then try to interpret what he is trying to suggest and talk to us in behalf of him. We could then see how his wife understands him more than anyone else.
During our classroom conference, we decided to help him out through picture aids. We planned it as a group project to make him one. We were so eager even before started doing it. We met on Thursday afternoon to make the plan into action. We cut out pictures from magazines representing words such as “kain”, “inom”, “ligo”, “oo”, “hindi” and many other else that we thought were useful words for him. We glued them to pieces of cut cartolina and labeled them. Then, we covered the cards in clear plastic and fastened them with card rings. We gave it to him the next day. We were so excited to see his reaction.
He was in his usual mood the moment we came to him and explained to him how he should use it. At first, we noticed that he was trying to hold back his tears. Maybe it was because he was shy to face a lot of people. He was just nodding and showing a cheery face to us. Even his wife seems so proud that we have made him such thing that could help him out a lot. She took the time to thank us all. Now, he could express himself better. After a while when some of us left, he just cried. Is it bliss? We call it hope. We call it life.
This was a fulfilling week for all of us. We were so happy that we were able to share our gifts to others. We felt for him in a way that is why we did the project with fullness and an aspiration to make him smile and be glad even with just a simple thing from us.
Circumstances like these pose us questions. Is what we say enough? Do we say things for a good cause?
It’s Yuletide season once again and let us remember God’s love for us. Sometimes, it is not how long you speak to each other but how far you understand one another. Let us live up the spirit of joy and for once, understand a smile through one’s eye.
dec. 27, 2005
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