BS: Good Spring RIsing....

Subject: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Amos
Date: 06 May 02 - 10:25 PM

I am glad the winter is past; it was one of the grimmest seasons I can remember; but I am glad to see heart-lightening Spring again, and all it promises. And something happened today, which I would like to share, which revived a sense of joy in me that matched the season and the time.

Joe is an engineer on our project who works in Software Configuration Management, writing complex computer scripts to move code files around in order to keep track of each version of each files and the changes to it. He does this using a special, very expensive computer system with specialized equipment attached to it which tells him out loud every word or letter which rolls across his monitor; in fact the only reason he has a monitor is to help the system administrator observe the displayed lines when configuring various parameters for the system -- Joe never uses it. He lives in darkness colored only by the subtleties of sound, He has been stone blind for forty years.< br>
Now, Joe is also a very high-spirited guy, and I enjoy talking to him. The other day he was explaining how precise his hearing is and showed me that he could tell from sound alone that he was one- half step away frombeing exactly in the center of the hall where we stood.& nbsp; He moved half a step, and sure enough he was exactly half way across.

Joe also knows who he has met, as you would expect, by the sound of his or her voice, and is always ready with an enthusiastic greeting and a discussion about almost anything. We were chatting there in the hall, and he asked me if I sang, which I allowed I did sometimes, and he went on to say he thought I should be on radio, because I had "really good pipes". Now, I dunno about pipes but I was understandably flattered, and we chatted a little bit about the folk songs I love to sing, and I told him I could put a few on CD for him, if he liked, and allowed that would be just terrific; so I said I would do it over the weekend.

I went ahead and burned a CD for him on Sunday, just a bunch of MP3s I had cut, and then i went to the web and found a Braille translator and got it to show me what the dot arrangement is for "To Joe from Amos". I printed those dots out and used them as a template -- with an electric engraving tool I burred through each printed dot into the plastic of the CD jewel case which I had clamped to the printout.

When I was done, I had a neat array of little dots marching across the plastic lid.

Well, I went in to Joe's office this morning -- the lights were off and the door was closed and it was awful dark in there,, but Joe was sitting there starting his day, unmindful of the dark. He had no objections if I turned on the fluorescent overhead light, though. So I did, and I went up to him, standing there with a curious and interested look on his face, and took his hand, and I said, "Here, Joe -- this is the CD I promised you. Tell me if you can make anything of these dots here." And I put his fingers on the jewel case.

Well he raised his eyebrows and he grabbed that case and started brushing it with his fingertips and then he exclaimed, "Hey, I can READ this CD!! It says...to...Joe...from....Amos!!"

He got more excited than I have ever seen him. He practically yelled,

"WOW!!! That is SO COOL!!! "To Joe From Amos", and even the capitals are right -- you even got the capitals!!! WOW!! That is so COOL!!! MAN!! Lemme give you a hug!!! You have MADE MY YEAR!!!! This is SOOOOO COOL!!!!"

I gotta tell ya folks, that even with his eyes permanently closed, this cat's face was lighting up, I mean radiant, with a grin ike a kid on Christmas. That little bit of work with the engraver on the plastic -- less than twenty minutes -- had bridged across from the noisy world of light and sight and into his world of sound, touch and dark and had touched the little cat's soul bigtime . And he gave me this big blind hug, and... well I dunno if I can express it. The guy just brightened up my whole world with the look on his face. I just had thought to do him a little favor, ya know, so he could tell what the CD was; but it filled a hole for him that someone would make that reach across...and I got back a thousand times over what I had expected.

And -- well you know, I never sing at work; it's the DoD, the Navy, software engineering stuff, and so on. Nice people and all, but folk music? Nahhh. But I caught myself, later that day, with a smug little grin, heading down the hall and singing quietly to myself:

"Come shipmates, gather round me,
I'll tell you in my song,
Of the things that happened to me,
When I come home from Hong Kong...."

And that glow lasted all day, so I thought I'd tell y'all about it.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 May 02 - 10:36 PM

Bless you, Amos. Great testimony of the power of caring. And you say, "Hey" to Joe fir me, will ya'?

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 May 02 - 12:14 AM

Neat, neat, neat... Thanks for giving me a big smile.

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: KT
Date: 07 May 02 - 12:35 AM

That's a real heart warmer!, Amos! Thanks for letting us share in the joy of it! KT

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 May 02 - 12:12 AM

Awwwwwwwww!!!!!!!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Morticia
Date: 08 May 02 - 11:57 AM

It wouldn't have occured to most people to do what you did, not that they aren't caring but it wouldn't have crossed their minds.....confirms my suspicions that you are a thoroughly good egg.

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 08 May 02 - 01:04 PM

Great story, A, but truthfully, I'm not surprised. Its the kind of thing I've come to expect from you.

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 02 - 09:06 PM

Thanks a whoe pile you guys, just the sroke I needed!!! LOL !

Joe said he loved the music, especially a little song called "Plain White Shift" written by no less a songwriter than our own Gaelic Goddess, so he obviously has very good taste!! :>)

A

Subject: RE: BS: Good Spring RIsing....
From: Áine
Date: 09 May 02 - 12:47 PM

I'm so happy that Joe liked The Plain White Shift, Amos. However -- you and I BOTH wrote that song, ya know ;-) What I want to know is which tune you used for it (hahahaha)...

Love ya, Áine