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Lessons in love and deafness from a Mtn. Lakes school
by Gregory J. Rummo
Just this past week, the students at Lake Drive School for the Hearing Impaired in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey were honored by local postmaster Michael Ross for their influence in the design of two new US Postal Service stamps created to foster deaf awareness. One stamp pictures a mother signing I love you to her newborn baby. The other stamp features a close-up of a hand saying I love you in American Sign Language. Kesi Wright, a student at Lake Drive School and one of about 200 people in attendance at the ceremony was quoted as saying, "These stamps will open the hearing world's eyes like morning sunshine, and soon everyone will know the beautiful sign for 'I love you' ". Whether intentional or not, the message these two stamps will convey all over the country on first class letters will be more than just deaf awareness.
We humans have a profound need to experience and exhibit love toward one another. Unfortunately, due to today's hustle and bustle lifestyles, many just don't take the time to say a simple I love you. Gone are the love notes we once took a few minutes to write. We no longer have the time to send a card. We make more excuses than phone calls. We shake hands instead of hugging one another. The song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Anymore" has become the sad lament of many folks.
I first became involved in the deaf world as it is called when I met the woman I would later marry. Her parents were deaf and it was never an issue whether I would take the time to learn sign language. I took it as a challenge. I thought it was the least I could do to communicate with the family. So for about five months on Monday evenings I sat across the kitchen table from my future mother-in-law and using a sign language book, she taught me to sign. That was almost eight years ago. Since then I have been priviledged to meet many deaf people. My wife and I are involved with the deaf in our church, interpreting and teaching in sign language. I have learned that love and deafness go together. I think it is simply because the deaf are appreciative when they meet a hearing person that has gone out of his way to learn their language.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are approximately 20 million people who are either deaf or exhibit some hearing loss. But the number of people who would be considered either severely or profoundly deaf is much less and estimated to be somewhere between one-half and one million. Of this group, there are only about 50,000 between the ages of 3 and 17 years old.
Our greatest challenge with deafness began when our second son, James was born. James, who just turned two in July is profoundly deaf. One would think raising a deaf child would be frustrating and filled with difficulties. You can't shout to warn of a car looming in the distance nor can you sing a lullaby to ease the transition into sweet sleep. There is no such thing as a hurried comment while passing in the hallway or shouting from one room to another. When we speak to each other, we must make eye contact -- and that's when real communication happens. The eyes are the window to the heart -- and my son has found my heart's window.
In his letter to the first century church in Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." For Paul, love was the ultimate expression of caring, transcending such things as eloquence and social service. We all need to be reminded of the importance of love in a world that has gone a little crazy. I have a little two year old that helps keep my priorities ordered properly. Perhaps the message on the postage stamps inspired by the deaf students at Lake Drive School can also serve to jog our dull minds of this priority each time we mail a letter.
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CLICK ON THIS LINK TO GO TO DEAF WORLD WEB
