Dear Editor,
A man on the street grumbles to his woman: “Yuh tell me go leff an’ den yuh turn right. Yuh bassady or wha’?”
“Stuuupsss!” The woman sucks her teeth in frustration. “I’n say nuttin ‘bout going leff, I ask you if yuh going deaf, an’ yuh jus’ prove me point!”
GT folks will swear to you that their hearing is still good, despite the fact that all day long, you hear music blaring at well over the 85 decibel safety limit that separates those with hearing loss from the pack. It’s bl-hearing (blasting your hearing) from car trunks loaded with speakers, from the WMDs (minibuses) that take people to work and school every day, from two-storied speakers with noise levels that can demolish a wooden house, and from music carts, some of which are Hitler-esque instruments of torture.
Now these same people blaring music will say, “Yuh too soff (soft)!’ if you dare ask them to turn down the music. Meanwhile:
– they get up on stage and cheerfully sing off-key for a whole tune;
– they sit in the audience and hear a man singing out of tune and cheer him wildly;
– teachers are complaining they have to speak louder and louder because kids nowadays so ‘hard-ears’, when in fact they’re getting hard of hearing;
– they call themselves mechanics, sit next to you in your car and tell you they not hearing any noise, when everybody on the street begging you to take your old car off the road;
– and they ask you if you bassady like the man in the story above, when is they deaf.
Young blarers, hear nuh: people in their 60s can still hear you even though you’re gradually whittling away at their hearing, but at the rate you’re going, by the time you reach your golden years, you’ll be living in your own silent world, deaf as a doornail. Maybe you’re hoping that technology will have new ears for you by then, but more than likely, as the saying goes… “yuh tracin’ luck.”
Think about what you’re doing to yourselves and everyone around you.
Yours faithfully,
Maureen Marks-Mendonca
