I had to talk with someone today. Someone who may or may not have understood me.
My life’s work has long required me to be inquisitive and investigative of people and their lives, their work, their problems. I have to ask. Inquire. Delve into.
The only problem….it’s not always possible to know if the other person understands. I talk with young people, older people, persons with dementia, persons with a wide range of mental illness(es), people with traumatic brain injuries, people with severe illness that has robbed them of physical capabilities including the power to speak or sign, people who cannot communicate with me in a fashion I am accustomed to.
Often I leave someone and wonder…
What were they trying to, or wishing, they could say. What did they want me to understand.
But I had the handicap of not being able to understand them.
It torments me.
The Chatter Blog 