I renounce war and will never support or sanction another - was taken from an Armistice Day sermon given in 1933 in New York by Dr Fosdick, called The Unknown Soldier. Dr Fosdick was an army chaplain and his sermon was an apology to the men who had been sent to their deaths in World War One: ‘If I blame anybody…it is men like myself who ought to have known better. We went out to the army and explained to these valiant men what a resplendent future they were preparing for their children by their heroic sacrifices.’ He went on to ‘renounce war because of what it does to our own men’ and ‘what it compels us to do to our enemies’. ‘

In "Dulce et decorum est", his classic poem from the First World War, Wilfred Owen described young soldiers, doomed to die, "like old beggars under sacks", and a man's "hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin".

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Silent witness

The events unfolding in Myanmar / Burma are both inspiring and tragic. They show clearly how when denied democracy and good government even the most peaceful will raise their voices and risk their lives. If I were religious I would pray, as I am not the most I can do is send a message of support across the internet. On a more local note, I wonder how this reflects on our society. In theory Britain has a democracy, so where have all the voters gone? There are some interesting perspectives offered in this months issue of New Internationalist. They argue that the people who are the product of capitalism and Thatcher no longer care, sitting back and hoping that others will take responsibility for the country while they are absorbed in candyfloss for the brain. Has this apathy now condemned us to a dictatorship of two parties? Has globalisation rendered so many people comatose, that there will be no popular uprising? Should our 'leaders' applaud the brave people who fight for democracy overseas whilst constraining it in their own homes by denying us PR? Poll after poll says politicians are not trusted. If you didn't trust someone with your children you wouldn't leave them with them. So what I fail to understand is how these untrusted politicians are left to run the services that everyone relies on to stay alive.

Something suddenly occurred to me as a difficult thing to understand; the fact that I get tired of what could be best described as faint noises… How is that possible when I’m so hard of hearing and next to deaf?

Well, the explanation is that the hearing aids I use are tuned to it’s maximum, perhaps a little over the top too…. For me a tractor working on a field a couple of hundred meters away from where I sit is audible (and annoying). The refrigerator has been mentioned. I pull out my hearing aids and listen to the tinnitus instead, it is less tiring actually.

All the faint sounds represent sound pollution to me. Since I need to rest (my hearing) when I’m not communicating verbally or when I have the (nowadays) occasional music listening experience, those faint sounds becomes obsolete sounds. That is by definition noise, to me.

My brain constantly seeks better understanding of the sounds it receives, and thus drains my resources constantly. That is how it must be. But when almost all the hearing has gone, the brains tries to compensate by working harder. My eyes (aka curiosity) seek out visual confirmation of the audio-signals the brain receives.

The hearing aids are designed to enhance ANY sound it receives. It has no way of making a distinction between noise and needed sounds. THIS fact causes overload on my hearing organ and my brain, since this is a constant condition.

The brain is the most fascinating organ in our body, as it is able to compensate and change during our lifetime. Loss of hearing causes other senses to kick in stronger, and when sound is still present, the brain will obviously continue to make the most of it.


I have to work extra hard to communicate with everyone around me. In that I have no choice. It is not an option to isolate myself from the real world where people I love and care for are. If I do that I am certain that depression and darker days will follow. That makes things worse.

Further on with mental symptoms following the fatigue caused by overcompensating for lack of hearing:
Sleep-disturbances has been a big issue for me.

Stress-tolerance declines and declines until something is done. This is just like a “burn-out” we hear about when people has been working too hard for too long. With low stress-tolerance, even a trip in the car becomes a huge straining factor.

Because the hearing declines, one also becomes more of an outcast in social situations. Being in a place with a lot of people, and almost never understand what everyone is laughing about can be hard to cope with. And when that happens over and over again, it is easy to fall for the temptation of faking that you understand. It’s part of social interaction. It’s normal to want to be part of the group and want to interact…

I’m not,
looking after myself.
Feels like my head’s been turned
inside out. One eye glued and
squinted like a drawstring bag
staying up until the late time.
I’ve been sleeping like a juggler on call
with fumbling hands that drop the ball.
Seeing steps to come but not gone by
auto piloting through the chore of day
This weariness now comes as standard
for these dry bones who need to rest
just can’t seem to concen ——–
——-trate.