By Katherine Schneider, for the CVPost
Oct. 15 was White Cane Safety Day, which promotes awareness of the law that says motorists must stop at least 10 feet from a blind person crossing a street with a white cane or a guide dog.
That got me thinking about travel and safety, and when I think of safe travel, I think about the listening involved. That in turn led me to ponder the many kinds of listening we all do and could probably do more of.
When I get ready to cross a street, I listen for cross traffic from the left and the right. This is obviously harder if there’s a lawn mower close or it’s rainy, which makes all sounds louder. I also listen for the parallel traffic to help judge if I’m making a straight crossing.
With a guide dog I’ve got an extra level of safety because he’s looking for cars (like the Prius I didn’t hear) and is trained to cross straight. I don’t listen to music while I’m walking because this constant listening for traffic is vital for a long and happy life.
Other types of listening
But I also listen for nature sounds on our walks – the crows cawing and the squirrel chittering back; the geese overhead; the sound of crunching leaves. . . . They build a picture in my mind of the environment.
Is that dog barking at us happy to see another canine or guarding its property? Is it on leash or behind a fence? I hope so, especially in icy weather when an erratic movement from my dog to avoid a conflict could leave me flat on my back. These old bones don’t want that!
There’s also listening to conversations. I listen to the words, but also to the tone and to what’s not being said. I try to remember the “you’ve got two ears and one mouth; use them in those proportions” rule.
Zoom conversations pose difficulties
On Zoom, when you can’t see, it’s harder to figure out who’s talking until you get the voices memorized. For me, that’s a slow process. I also can’t listen to my screen reader to read the chat at the same time as I’m listening to the meeting. I ask people to avoid using chat for anything important at meetings I’m at, unless they also say it out loud.
Sometimes I listen to the beauty of the language. “Audio Poem of the Day,” “The Writer’s Almanac,” and “The Slow Down” are some of my favorite poetry podcasts. As someone who reads by listening to electronic speech cranked up as fast as I can for hours a day, it’s fun to slow down and listen for beauty, not just factual content.
Calvin wears a bell in the house and I listen to where he is. Like most moms, I have eyes in the back of my head, except for me it’s ears. Being a smart beast, he’s fairly adept at walking without ringing his bell when he really wants to.
Other kinds of listening
A different kind of listening is listening to my body. Unless it shouts, I tend to ignore it. Tuning in can be useful.
If I notice hunger signals and do something about them before getting crabby, life is better for all concerned. As I age, I’m slowly sorting out when aches and pains are messengers to slow down and when they’re just going to be new parts of the system.
Last but not least is listening to the still small voice: conscience, Higher Power, God or whatever you call it. It takes quiet time and inviting it to speak, but it is sure a good guide on how to take the high road in navigating these stressful times.
If you’d like to learn from another blind expert on listening, try Stephen Kuusisto’s Eavesdropping. He’s an English professor and poet who writes beautifully about listening.