Simon and Garfunkel first performed this song as Kane and Garr, two months prior to JFK's assassination in 1963. It was later released in 1964 on an album, and the album tanked. After a producer finagled some help from Bob Dylan's band, Sound of Silence was re-released with jangly, amplified rhythm as back-up, and Simon and Garfunkel's once fizzled song sky-rocketed into the 1965 hit, Sound of Silence. Later, a band called Disturbed, covered Sound of Silence in a haunting, beautiful way, reinventing the song in 2015 for another generation. Whether you like both, only the original, or only the Disturbed version, the song is powerful and speaks to many issues going on today. Why this trip down memory and/or history's lane?
Well, this blogger has been experiencing a lot of silence recently. On a personal note, this blogger is an attorney who has congenital hearing loss. The hearing loss is of a specific variety that is not amenable to any surgical intervention or cochlear aids. So, she wears hearing aids. The loss is represented in a cookie bite pattern. This means that high and low frequencies are still within relatively normal hearing. However, all conversational frequencies, ie, all frequencies at which people talk, are at a significant deficit. As an attorney who does courtroom work, this can often be a challenge. Thus, this blogger invests in the best hearing aids that are available, at great cost to her, as most insurance companies do not believe that hearing aids are items that need to be covered, despite many people needing them in order to activities of daily living. However, wearing hearing aids does not guarantee "normal" hearing and does require others in the courtroom to speak up, sometimes to use microphones or any other devices offered in courtrooms for those with hearing deficits.
When this blogger sits in court, she sometimes has those moments that hearken back to Ally McBeal, a late 90's legal dramedy wherein the lead character has a theme song playing in her head. Unfortunately, this blogger's court theme song mainly is relegated to Sound of Silence. As an attorney representing clients in court, that is not the theme song that is desired. While this blogger becomes frustrated at the lack of basic courtesy from certain persons she has worked with for over 10 years, she also recognizes this a symptom of the current state of society.
Look, courtrooms and courthouses have a duty to be equipped to accommodate persons with disabilities, and although this blogger hates asking for help, she's handling that under the Americans with Disabilities Act. She can tell you that after a 24 year career in the law with hearing aids, she has never had to go that far in asking formally for an accommodation until now, but now, she has had to request the same twice. We shall see if anything comes of it. After the first request in 2023, adjustments have been made, and those who helped with them know they are appreciated. However, when a few people will not use the adjustments, accommodations, or tech put in place to assist for those with hearing loss, frustration reigns.
After the initial and ongoing feelings of hurt from not being listened to and shame from having a disability, deeper analysis leads this blogger to see there's more to the story of her theme song. You know, back in 63, 65, 2015, and today, we are all living in a world where no one is listening. Darkness is an old friend, as facing facts, learning new ways of doing things, and helping your neighbor are foreign concepts. No one is reaching out to teach, reach, or create the sound that is needed. Instead, they pray to a "neon god they made," and stay silent in the face of people being mocked for disabilities on the national stage or in a small, Indiana courtroom. They stay silent when a convict runs for president. They stay silent when many have no access to basic healthcare. They stay silent when a bully attempts to take an ally's land. They stay silent when gun violence erupts. The sound of silence is deafening, as it's easier to take your power if you cannot actually hear what is going on in the world or right in front of you.
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