Dr. Ed Tori's family member got a hearing aid and heard birds chirping for the first time, realizing how much she'd been missing. He uses this to argue that we overlook everyday things we assume are stable, from sounds to relationships, and need to regularly question what we take for granted.
Now, today though, I was reflecting on a conversation that I had a few days ago. I was speaking to a member of my family who described what it was like when she first put on a hearing aid. So she was navigating the world like normal. She's going to work, she's taking care of people, whatever her job is. And well, at one point, somebody who was an audiologist said, have you ever had your hearing examined? Because it might just be worth it. Just do it. Just get it checked out. And she went, she got her hearing examined, and It turns out that she needed hearing aids. So she described the feeling of putting on the hearing aid for the first time, and she heard birds chirping, and she didn't realize that she was missing it. Now, taking something for granted is like that. To take something for granted is to take it as if it's a given, as if it's stable, as if it doesn't require maintenance, as if, you know what, I don't need to question it. I don't need to take care of it. It's gonna be there.
