What is it like to be a small child,
In a school, In a room void of sound
With a teacher who talks and talks and talks;
And then when she does come around to you,
She expects you to know what she's said?
You have to be deaf to understand
Or the teacher thinks that to make you smart,
You first must learn how to talk with you voice;
So mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face
For hours and hours without patience or end,
Until out comes a faint resembling sound?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be curious
To thirst for knowledge you can call your own,
With an inner desire that's set on fire
And you ask a brother, sister, or friends
Who looks in answer and says, "Never-mind."
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like in a corner to stand,
Though there's nothing you've done really wrong,
Other than try to make use of your hands
To a silent peer to communicate
A thought that comes to your mind all at once
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be shouted at
When one thinks that will help you to hear;
Or misunderstand the words of a friend
Who is trying to make a joke clear,
And you don't get the point because he's failed.
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be laughed in the face
When you try to repeat what is said;
Just to make sure that you've understood,
And you find that the words were misread
And you want to cry out, "Please help me, friends."
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to have to depend
Upon one who can hear to phone a friends;
Or place a call to a business firm
And be forced to share what's personal;
Then find what your message wasn't made clear.
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be deaf and alone?
In the company of those who can hear
And you only guess as you go along.
For no one's there with a helping hand
As you try to keep up with words and song.
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like on the road of life?
To meet with a stranger who opens his mouth
And speaks out a line at a fast pace;
And you can't understand the look in his face
Because it's new and you're lost in the race.
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to understand
Some nimble fingers that paint the scene,
And make you smile and feel alone,
With the "spoken word" of the moving hand
That makes you part of the world at large.
You have to be deaf to understand!
What is it like to "hear" a hand?
You have to be deaf to understand!
Author Unknown
