February 2 - the eve of the anniversary of my dead brother's birthday
Philip W Schaller died young, many years ago, and still I grieve deeply for him this time of year. Philip was amazingly humorous - always surprising me with his wit and creativity. What I loved most about Philip was his empathy. Even though he had a macho exterior and had two older brothers ready to pounce at even the smell of any vulnerability, Philip took in and stood up for underdogs, played with babies, and talked to his younger sisters as if they were legitimate human beings.
Empathy and humor have a common denominator: imagination. If I want to emulate Philip's empathy, I must expand my imagination. To teach or encourage empathy -raise awareness that we all are together - I must write and speak so as to nurture the growth of imagination.
Were I to care more about money or prestige or power, I would not be advocating for languageless deaf people and for Deaf language rights. A few years ago, when pressured by a relative to get a "real" job, I did some soul-searching, asking myself why I cared so much about promoting visual language to visual babies. I saw that it helped me to become more human, that is, more aware that I am connected to all humans. I, individually, could not stop torture, war, or the greedy hubris of a few rich corporations. I could, however, tell my story of how I met an unimagined visual culture, and how Deaf people introduced me to myself - my face, my hands - and made me more fully human.
The best way I can keep Philip's unique contributions alive is to remember how he tried to see and understand other points of view, to feel for and with another person no matter how different from him. The best way I can show my appreciation for the gifts he gave me is to give them to others. It is extremely difficult, for a hearing person, to imagine profound deafness before language. That is why it is so important to think of ways to grow that imagination, so that every parent, doctor, teacher and the whole village works at giving visual gifts to our fellow humans, our deaf babies.
In memory of Philip who would now have added some great comic relief which you will just have to imagine,
susan of www.susanschaller.com
This is beautiful. Thank you.
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