#5: Don't Speak
Fever is a dreaded illness for me because of my allergy to ‘Paracetamol’, which means that I have to wait for the fever to subside on its own without the help of any medication. Over the past weekend, I was unfortunate enough to come down with fever, complete with cough, cold and a pounding headache. It was during this time that I learnt to truly appreciate the value of being able to communicate verbally. Due to the strain caused by my endless coughing fits, my throat was sore and I could not even utter a single word. I had to depend on the help of my family members.
There was one instance I remembered vividly given my semi-conscious state. I realized that it was time for my medicine (the doctor gave me antibiotics), but I felt too weak to even get up from my bed. My grandmother was in my room at that time, and I managed to catch her attention. I was unable to speak, so I had to find a new way to tell her that I wanted to eat my medicine. That proved to be the most frustrating thing I have ever done in my 22 years. After all, how do you signal ‘medicine’ to a 70-year-old lady?
In the end, what my grandmother did was to say out a list of things she thought I would want, and I signalled by nodding or shaking my head. After a long while, she managed to guess the word ‘medicine’ and went to take it for me.
Instances like these make me feel blessed that even if I cannot communicate well, at least I have the basic communication skill to get my point across with ease. Can you imagine a world where we cannot speak and there is no proper sign language to help us communicate our ideas?
There was one instance I remembered vividly given my semi-conscious state. I realized that it was time for my medicine (the doctor gave me antibiotics), but I felt too weak to even get up from my bed. My grandmother was in my room at that time, and I managed to catch her attention. I was unable to speak, so I had to find a new way to tell her that I wanted to eat my medicine. That proved to be the most frustrating thing I have ever done in my 22 years. After all, how do you signal ‘medicine’ to a 70-year-old lady?
In the end, what my grandmother did was to say out a list of things she thought I would want, and I signalled by nodding or shaking my head. After a long while, she managed to guess the word ‘medicine’ and went to take it for me.
Instances like these make me feel blessed that even if I cannot communicate well, at least I have the basic communication skill to get my point across with ease. Can you imagine a world where we cannot speak and there is no proper sign language to help us communicate our ideas?
posted by Faidah @ 4:37 PM
5 Comments:
At March 26, 2009 at 11:19 AM ,
ariana said...
Hey Faidah
Thank God for your grandmother. Haha! It's nice to have someone around to look after you while you're unwell.
I'm allergic to Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory drugs! But being allergic to paracetamol is indeed sad. You poor thing. But there are other medications out there to help you! (: So do not fear. Haha!
Anyway, you used non-verbal communication to get your medicine. This just shows how powerful non-verbal cues are. Despite your inability to speak, you were able to get what you wanted.
I believe your situation amplifies the fact that we need to be sensitive to subtle non-verbal cues when interacting with others. This way, their real message can be interpreted.
See you in class!
Love,
Ariana
At April 1, 2009 at 2:03 AM ,
Hanrong said...
Hi Faidah,
Hope you are feeling better already! Somehow, your story made me think about paralyzed patients (please do not infer any relation to your illness and theirs!) Honestly, it troubles me to think that for some of them, their only means of communicating would be to blink their eyes. The physicist Stephen Hawking suffered from an illness which took away his ability to speak. With most parts of his body paralyzed, he uses his cheeks to input text into a vocal synthesizer which "speaks" on his behalf. He once took 7 minutes to answer a simple interview question! All this while, he was actively making new discoveries in his field of work. Talk about determination! Let us not take the ability to communicate, which we have been blessed with, for granted!
Rgds,
Hanrong
At April 2, 2009 at 2:17 PM ,
Michelle Keong said...
Hi Faidah,
Indeed we should be grateful that we are still able to communicate with people! In the most recent reality television program "Amazing Race", a mother and child participated in it together. The son had speech impairment, but he was ever cheerful and constantly communicating to everyone. The mother was also very skilled at the hand language and would help him to translate. It may have been frustrating not being able to communicate directly, but the boy’s face is always full of expression and draws people in. This is definitely the non-verbal cues at work. Hence, it is important that we keep trying to express ourselves. Holding on to the strong feelings, the messages will definitely get through to our loved ones. It is really nice to hear that your grandmother kept trying the various options and finally understood your message!
Best regards
Michelle
At April 4, 2009 at 7:02 AM ,
abz said...
Hi Faidah,
Firstly, I hope you never get fever and coughs again, at least for a very long time! Luckily you recovered well for our group meetings. Me and Huixin would have had a very hard time trying to signal 'smoking laws are ineffective' to you! Haha.
Anyway, your post reminded me of an antic that my girlfriend and I used to do quite often. We noticed the way mute people communicate on quite a few occasions, and were truly amazed at their ability to use the sign language. So, once in a while, for about an hour or so, we tried not communicate to each other verbally , but by using signs! Not to mock them of course, but to try to understand how it feels like not to be able to speak. And let me tell you, it's really really really hard! So, thank God for the gift of speech, and it's really these kind of little things in life that we take for granted that are actually so very precious to us.
Anyway, brilliant post! See you next week for the presentation meeting :)
cheers,
abdullah
At April 5, 2009 at 11:33 AM ,
reZa said...
Hello Faidah-san!
Oh my I'm really sorry to hear about your allergy to one of the most common and useful drug! You have to make an extra effort to stay healthy!
Anyway, your post illustrates the importance of non-verbal communication in our life. Since we can't communicate telepathically like in the movies, we have to rely on signaling our intentions. Your post made me think of another situation where non verbal communication is necessary. During my army days, we learned about jungle warfare. In the jungle, we have to be very stealth and speaking is definitely not allowed so as not to alert the enemy. Hence, we have to rely on hand signals like those you see in the movies. In this case, our lives depend on non verbal communication!
That's all from me!
reZa out!
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