Deafness

In a world in which we receive way more information than we can process, ignorance may not be so much a fault as it is a boon. I have been half-deaf for the better part of a week due to my persistent vulnerability to ear infections. There is, of course, plenty of pain and discomfort to be dealt with as well as other cold symptoms, but I think this partial deafness is something I am not minding as much I would have thought.

In fact, when I'm watching TV with other people, I often miss the less amplified parts of dialogue in commercials and shows. When everyone else starts laughing, they look at me and ask if I understood the joke. "I missed it... I'm pretty deaf right now," I reply with a strange sense of contentedness. I can stand there doing something with great focus and only hear muffled voices in place of what other people are saying to me seemingly in an effort to distract. Yes, for a person with concentration issues, maybe this ignorance is not such a bad thing after all.

Why do I feel content? Because most of what I am missing is just noise; mindless noise that is of no value to me. And on top of that, I don't have to interpret and understand things being said as I naturally would had I actually listened. This is a great thing when you have a habit of getting "mentally lazy". I don't have to worry about listening to others because I have an excuse, and I can just relax and drift. Who knew that it would take an ear infection to show me what is worth not listening to. Ignorance can be of great value when used in moderation.