Without voice

Since last Wednesday morning, I have been suffering through a fairly common ailment--laryngitis. It has been frustrating, because even though my voice has stopped working, I did not. I still had meetings--both to attend and to host--and guests, and a life to live. I was able to survive until Friday night, when I gave in to my slump. Since then, I haven't talked on the phone, I haven't visited friends, I haven't gone out shopping. Instead, I've stayed home, resting my vocal cords and my body after a few grueling weeks of non-stop going.

In some ways, it has been a relief. I feel really rested. I think my voice may return eventually. I paid bills, straightened the house, fed the dogs--all the mundane things that happen when I am at home. At other times it was frustrating. I wanted to call my mom & other mothers I know to tell them I love them for loving their kids. I wanted to vent frustration at people who kept calling me because they couldn't make a decision. It's been an odd place for me.

I wonder, though, about those people who have no voice, no hope. Who breaks their silences? Who comes to their aid? At which point do they feel like they've lost their voice because no one hears them? It's deadening and deafening--the silence that answers them. I do hope for my future, but only because being without voice is a temporary situation for me, and a strictly physical ailment. I wonder if others without voice lose their hope...if they do, how do we help them find it again?