I think Alma may have missed a few important things from that phone call. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen as a result. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see!

This strip got me thinking. As you age, losing one’s hearing is a tricky proposition. I say this, because many don’t seem to have enough sympathy for the aged deaf. Sure, there are hearing aids (which can be painful to wear for a long time) and if the elderly yell “what” loudly enough people will repeat themselves (much to their annoyance). However, I think the world mostly doesn’t accommodate them enough. I mean, I’m not saying the world we live in is like Logan’s Run or anything where we murder the olds. However, people tend to just smile and nod through any interaction with them to avoid awkwardness.

It reminds me of a family holiday party years ago in which I was seated next to two great-aunts. As usual, with any of my relatives, they were asking me questions about my life. Being a child, I approached this conversation with an adult with deadly seriousness. These sage-like elders were going to sit in judgement upon me obviously. What did I want to be when I grow up? What’s the right answer?! At one point, I was afraid I misspoke and wanted to correct what I had said. At this point, a passing aunt chimed in, “Oh, don’t worry. They’re deaf as haddocks.” Her message being, don’t trouble yourself, it doesn’t matter if they hear you.

It occurs to me now that the most important thing with my deaf old great-aunts, was avoiding the awkwardness of accommodating them. They would pretend to hear me as long as I pretended to speak something to them. It’s a weird game of pretend. Is this game of avoiding showing any vulnerability or knowledge of it that leads to conspiracy theories about Stevie Wonder pretending to be blind.

Trivia: The boss prefers that politicians refrain from using dog whistles in their speeches—racist or otherwise. This is because the boss has excellent hearing which extends outside the human frequency spectrum.