Tag Archives: depression

For The Good of the Nation

In The News, Politics • Tags: , , , ,

If we could just send the same bunch of men to Washington for the good of the nation, and not for political reasons, we could have the most perfect government in the world. – June 8, 1924   –Will Rogers

I ran across this quote recently and was again amazed how true Will’s sayings are to today. Political reasons seem to dominate our whole country in the 2000s. One hopeful thing that this quote reminds us of it that it was also that way in Will’s day but it somehow changed after that.  Let’s hope it doesn’t take another full blown depression to make that happen. We came very close to one thanks to Mr. Bush but that wasn’t enough to put politics aside.

If only the people we elect did things for the good of the nation instead of for political reasons.

But what do I know…. Next to nothing I guess…..

Getting Enough to Eat….

In The News, Quotes • Tags: , , , ,

Ten men in our country could buy the World, and ten million can’t buy enough to eat. -August 16, 1931  Will Rogers

Sometimes it is almost eerie to see the similarities between the depth of the Great Depression and today.  The last time we were not able to break the grip of our aristocracy’s absolute control of wealth. Maybe we will this time around? After all they do say practice makes perfect. Or at least get them to paying their fair share. Let’s not put all the burden on their secretaries to pay the higher percentage of taxes.

But what do I know….

Waiting to Die….

About Life • Tags: , ,

One of the most depressing things to me is that some seniors seem to spend their lives just waiting to die. They have no ambitions or goals for their senior years. They spend their days do little or nothing. In other words they are very passive seniors; they say they gain their joy from inactivity but is that really true or just a cop out for not doing anything?

I must admit that I am probably more adventurous than many seniors.  I enjoy constant stimulation. I enjoy planning and doing things that I have never done before. To sit around the house day after day is very boring to me. My senior years certainly give me an opportunity to do some adventurous things. Unfortunately, like many other seniors I imagine, I am married to a spouse who doesn’t share my sense of adventure. She is much more inclined to spend her day just lying around the house. To her an ideal day is pretty a pretty passive experience. She says she enjoys the simple things.

Living for the past twenty five years together has been a interesting experience. Our differences in personality, she is yin and I am yang, have made for some unusual times. I have mellowed a little over the years and she has shown a slightly more adventurous spirit but not to any significant degree. So, here I am wanting to travel and enjoy new things in my senior years and here she is just wanting to do pretty much the same thing from one day to the next. I’m not sure how to resolve these differences? Compromise doesn’t seem possible. That is what is most challenging for me right now. Do I dare suggest that we both do what we each went (she stays home and I travel)? I just don’t know.  But I know I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just waiting to die. I am dreaming of too many adventures just to do that.

And the journey goes on (or not)…..

Being alone in the world…

Coping in the Hearing World • Tags: , ,

I know that I am not the only person in the U.S. who is deaf. In reality there are more than three million of us around. About two million of those are like me who went deaf as an adult. That means for Indiana where I live there are about forty thousand of us around. But since I am not active in any deaf clubs or organizations I seldom come across another deaf person in my daily life. When I do I am most often too surprised to try to effectively communicate with them. So, to me being deaf almost means being alone in the world. I am constantly around only hearing people.

When I first realized that deafness was the reality for me I indeed felt alone in the world. My ear doctor of several years basically told me that there was nothing else he could do to save my hearing so “please go away”. He did not offer any referrals to groups or such that could help me cope. I got the idea that he thought of me as one of his failures and he wanted me out of this sight as quickly as possible. As I later learned from other late deafened adults this was not an unusual scenario with a ENT doctor.

Up until that time I did not have any friends, family, or acquaintances who were hearing impaired. So, I like most other hearing people didn’t realize that those who were deaf in later life were just like everyone else except they couldn’t hear. I had read stories about how deafness caused severe depression in some; even to the point of thinking of suicide! I very much dreaded the day that I would lose the last bit of hearing. I felt very much alone in the world. The only support I seemed to have was from my dear wife and, of course, she knew no more than I did about what I was going to face.

Here it is 22 years later and I did survive those years and everything turned out fine. At least for the most part. I did go through some periods of depression but managed to cope with them. I found support groups in the early years although I have not made contact with many of them for more than a decade. Yvonne and I learned signed English sign language. Over the years I have accumulated all the various technologies that help me cope. Do I sometimes still feel alone in the world. You betcha. I often say that I feel the loneliest when I am in a room full of people. More on those things in later posts.

And the journey continues….