A very insightful person, who I had just met, recently asked me a simple question of: "how do I feel inside about losing my voice?" Then this person just sat and waited while I collected my thoughts and then write my lengthy answer on my white pad. Not only did it make me stop and think but it showed that the other person had compassion for my speech problem.
Over the last six months, I have met with many doctors, three speech therapists, the people at the ALS Clinic at Johns Hopkins, a psychologist, my physical therapist who has treated through all my challenges, my friends, my pastor (and good friend), and my wife and family; I’m sure that somebody has asked me the question before, but I cannot remember anybody waiting for me to respond before moving onto another topic.
Then this person asked another great question: "if I had the means, what is the one thing that I want to do with my life"? (Or something close to that.) Again, the inquisitor waited while I mentally composed my answer. I came away from that conversation thinking of what that thing is and how do I achieve it?
My answers to these questions will be the subject of future blogs. My point is that these two simple, but very compassionate, questions can have great positive impact on someone who is facing a life challenge----but you must wait while the person is composing his or her answer.
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