The ' Talking' Clock

                                                                             desk talking clock

Once in a while, when trying to put  things in order, I come upon my mother's desk 'talking' clock - a device meant to help the visually impaired. 

During the last decade of her life, Mom  was almost blind , as a result of  the glaucoma disease, and could not see the numbers on a  clock. So, we bought her a talking clock so that she could hear  the time.

The amazing thing is that the clock kept telling the time some seven years after her death. I didn't know a battery could last that long!  I had all kinds of thoughts about it, especially that there were other things that puzzled me. The fridge and air-conditioner both suddenly stopped working after her death, and couldn't be repaired; the engines were totally dead. It was as if these household items "died of a broken heart".

Anyway, her intense blue eyes stayed beautiful till the last moment.

Whenever I come upon the above clock, I turn to the music of Andrea Bocelli, the blind italian tenor. Bocelli was diagnosed with glaucoma at the age of 12, but he completely lost his eyesight , according to biography, after an accident. His music reminds me of Mother, especially that she had a good voice and liked to sing  a lot, mainly cantorial pieces (chazzanut). Her and mine favorite cantors were Malavsky and Kossowitzky.

                                      Mom  wearing dress with yemenite embroidery.

The Article and Its Author

 

There's an old article (published some 25 years ago) which I re-read from time to time.  It is entitled 'The Thinking Person's Guide to Perfect Health', written by the american Ron Kennedy M.D.  Only recently have I become aware of the fact that the author has  a whole book on the subject ( it sells at Amazon, and it's not cheap).

Anyway, I'm  quite satisfied with the 13-page internet article. I like everything about it : style , approach, and message. I got to it in my quest for information on the glaucoma eye disease. My late Mother suffered of glaucoma, and in her late years became blind.

I remember myself feeling very frustrated with what standard medicine had to offer once the disease was detected - mainly drops to lower the pressure built up in the eye liquid, but the drops and the other meds didn't stop the progress of the disease towards blindness.

The other day,  when I wished to  re-read the above article, I found out the last 2 pages were missing. I decided to look for it and type it again. Well, it seems to have disappeared from the Web; that might probably have something to do with possible interference in the  selling of the book.

While looking for the article, I have learnt that the doctor, owner of an anti-aging clinic, is being charged with having provided illegal written exemption from vaccination for three children. I've  also come upon the info that a book of his against vaccines has been in the headlines for some 20 years (never heard of it; I wish I could get hold of it/ I'm curious of what he has to say on this hot topic ).

I'm not surprised he gets himself into trouble . He's not a conventional doctor. He calls himself a nutritional doctor, one that believes that the vitamins and minerals in our nutrition can heal our body, not the synthetic drugs. He advocates curing by nutrient therapy. 

In his article, he names the FDA 'an Old Boys' Club', and the NIH a mighty organization with a small corner only for progressive medicine.  He promises that if we follow the principles outlined in his article we'll never have to visit his medical office.

I must admit he sounds rather convincing to me.  We can have control of nutrition, much less of stress, not at all of genetics. The right nutrition and mineral /vitamin supplements could  eliminate or lower our need for 'doctor's appointment'.

 

Between Bocelli and Beethoven

During the last ten years of her life, my Mom was completely blind and deaf. The full blindness came after a long battle with the glaucoma eye disease; the hearing problems started when as a young woman she got beatten on head and ears by a german officer ; over the years it gradually worsened and deafness became permanent condition.

Mom's intense blue eyes ( that stayed beautiful and open till her last moment) and her delicate shaped ears never leave my thoughts. There are times when I think of her, wish to lie down and just cry - to make it up for all those terrible moments when I wanted to cry but I couldn't, I had to be strong for her sake.
It is in times like these that I seek the proper atmosphere ; I turn to the voice of the blind italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and to Symphony nr.5 by the huge deaf german (how ironical) composer Ludwig van Beethoven .

Andrea Bocelli is relatively young, handsome and...blind. He was diagnosed in early childhood with glaucoma, and at the age of 12 after an accident he lost his sight. I like it both when he sings with or wihout a partner, his voice stirring up in me the right emotions.



Beethoven wrote his Symphony nr.5 at a time when he was struggling with his deafness. It sounds very angry and stormy . The beginning of the symphony is dramatic, the end is considered triumphant. I never cease to wonder how a deaf man like Beethoven could compose such mighty sounds. Anyway, I'm totally and utterly enslaved to this symphony; it helps me take out all the anger and frustration I've accumulated regarding my mother's fate.