The Golden Rule

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

 I have had an interesting lesson on this today.  It has made me laugh all day.  This is why:  I lost my voice.  For the first time in my life I can't talk.  Literally, my mother says I came out talking and haven't stopped.  I have not heard the sound of my voice at all today.

As we got ready as a family this morning, I realized my kids would talk to me in a whisper because I would talk to them in a whisper.  They would talk normally to each other, but not to me.  It reminded me a lot of my cousin's wife who is deaf and has four kids.  Those kids "talk" to their mom in their own language. I had a bit of my own language today.

 My neighbor stopped over before I left this morning as well and talked to me in a whisper.  She said she felt she was yelling at me otherwise.  That made me pause as I realized the normal "loudness" in which I speak.

I think I have had the desire to write today even more because I cannot speak.  I realize how much I yell out to my front desk person throughout the day.  I don't yell at her, but ask her lots of questions from my desk (and I like to make dumb comments to her too).  Hmm..I may be more considerate now?

As my day went on, I realized my teachers were also whispering when talking to me.  One teacher I congratulated for using her regular voice.  She was funny because she said she really wanted to talk to me in a whisper, but had a quick thought that it wasn't necessary.

The whole day has made me think more because I couldn't talk as much.  I had a couple frustrating run-ins throughout the day, but saw myself remaining calm because my voice didn't help me get riled up.  At one point I had a student simply walk out of my office before our meeting was done. Normally, I would have used my voice to get him to stop.  Instead, he got out of the office and I had to deal with it much differently.  It worked.  It was dealt with much more calmly and with a little more understanding as students have to listen really closely since they can hardly hear me.

I have decided I need to keep my voice down normally.  How long will that last?  Maybe not long, but I have the desire to try.  Everyone was so good to me throughout the day and I felt our conversations were much easier.  My poor kids dealing with my loud voice all the time.  Hopefully we can all try to be a little on the quieter side.