Pomp and Circumstance
My brother graduated high school on Tuesday. Overall, it was a great trip home. I got to hang out with the family, meet the new kids at work, and catch up with Orsi, A, and Kerin (hooray!!).
The only snag was a five-hour trip to the emergency room after my grandma took a spill (she’s fine; she just has a big cut on her leg. It scares me how fragile older skin is - she barely bumped it and it ended up a huge scrape. This is definitely the last time they come down for a visit).
But on to funny things. Like my brother.
I love my brother dearly, but I worry for him. He has the most pronounced case of selective hearing I’ve ever witnessed. He typically has a set of headphones glued to his ears, which only exacerbates the problem.
Exhibit A: Asking my brother to take out the trash.
"Trey, can you take out the trash?"
(Silence)
"Trey, can you take out the trash?"
(Silence)
"TREY!"
"What?!?"
"CAN YOU TAKE OUT THE TRASH?!"
"Geez! You don’t need to yell."
Recall, however, that I described this as selective hearing.
Exhibit B: Immediately following asking my brother to take out the trash
*Muttering under the breath* "I swear, that kid is deaf…"
"I HEARD THAT!"
As you would imagine, this selective hearing creates communication issues; hence, the worrying. He tends to…not listen…when given instructions. Like here:
Exhibit C: Discussing the location of prom
"Trey, where exactly is your prom?"
"Umm…oh, yeah. It’s in Laytonsville. At an Indian restaurant. Off River Road."
"What?"
"An Indian restaurant off River Road! Geez! Don’t you listen?"
"This sheet says it’s at a hotel off Indian Lake Road in Gaithersburg."
"…..Oh."
Needless to say, there was some misunderstanding about who the graduation speaker was. Trey told us it was going to be "some high school dropout" who was a "Jehovah’s witness."
Umm….his graduation speaker was the Surgeon General of the United States.
To my brother’s credit, the Surgeon General did not graduate high school. After growing up in extreme poverty, he joined the military and obtained his GED. After becoming a decorated Vietnam veteran, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. went on to become a doctor and then the Surgeon General of the United States.
He gave a great speech about social responsibility and the need for cultural competence.
* Sigh.* I’m sure my brother took away a great message about social respirators and the need for contests between religious cults.
