Sally Sally

It was the first semester of grade 12, around winter 2012, an accident happened to me.
Something went terribly wrong.

I was in class when I felt a sharp pain in my left ear, as if someone used a needle to stab it. My ears started ringing, I started to get a headache and everything seemed to be spinning around me. Things did not get better from here.

My steps became unsteady, I had to consciously control myself to walk in a straight line, as I found it difficult to balance my head. It was exhausting to concentrate on what others were saying, I could see their lips moving, but the sounds they made were so light, as if they were just whispering to me or someone had their hands on my ears to block out the sound. And it was at that point I realized,

I was losing the hearing in my left ear.

“Do you remember what might have caused this?” the doctor talked very slowly, emphasized on each word he said, afraid that I might not be able to hear him clearly. I tried to answer him, but I found myself crying even harder.
“I am going to do a brief checkup to see what is happening in your ears”. He then took a black L-shaped tube from his shelf, the tube had a dim light at one of its ends. The doctor put that end in my left ear and he was peeking into it from the other side of the tube.
After it was done, he looked at me, but now he looked rather worried and surprised. Before he could start telling me what was going on, another doctor walked into the room.
The doctor said to her, “Could you please check on her for me? I just want to make sure my diagnosis was correct.”

The other doctor did the exact same procedure on me, she peeked into my ear through the tube.
After she was done checking, she looked at me and murmured something, I couldn't hear what she said, I stared at her blankly. She seemed to realize something and her lips moved once again,
“Are. you. planning. to. work. in. the. music. industry?” I assumed she was repeating her question, but this time, just like my doctor, she talked slowly and emphasized on each word.
“No.”
“Do you play any instruments?”
“No," I maintained monosyllabic.
“Well, that’s partially the good news, the bad news is…"

My doctor interrupted her, "your left eardrum is ruptured very badly, you see, the normal membrane would resemble a clear circle when it’s not ruptured. But yours only have a quarter left…” He explained, “Well…To make a long story short, the bad news is you might not be able to hear with your left ear anymore…”
My knees went weak and I started screaming and crying uncontrollably.

The doctor found it puzzling that I was crying: “why are you crying? You haven’t lost all your hearing. There’s nothing to cry about, there are people out there who are in a much worse situation that you are. You can still hear with your right ear!”

---

I’d have to admit this, I wanted to punch the doctor in his face so badly when he said that.

Two years later, I know that the doctor was right. He was terribly right. Why was I crying? What was there to cry about? I could still hear! I could still hear with my right ear, I still had more than people who were completely deaf!

Very often, I found myself focusing more on what I have lost or what I don't have, instead of what I have. I have food to eat, a place to live, clothes to keep me warm, I don't need to worry about my safety, and I can go to school. Having all these essentials, I am probably living in a better condition than 90% of other people on Earth!

I was shopping for shoes in downtown the other day. I was extremely frustrated because I could not decide on which colour/brand of shoes to buy.
Then I walked past a homeless man. His shirts were all ripped and left with holes, he couldn’t even own a pair of shoes because his legs were cut off! It was at that point, I felt like I was the luckiest person, and that ALL the problems I had, were merely first-world problems.

I have the ability to talk, to walk, to see, to hear and to feel. The things that I often take for granted could be the things that many others can't even dream to have!

If you have internet access and some time to read this post, then you probably have a substantial amount of what you need. So next time when you want to complain about not having something that you want, stop and think for a moment. Is this necessary? Do you really need it?

It doesn't matter if the glass is half-full or half-empty, just be thankful that you have a glass, and grateful that there's something in it.

Let's make this world a better place with less first-world problems.