Having lost my own hearing at age 14, was it "tragic" to me?...Horrific to my family & siblings?...Music was my life, as it was with most teens, and no longer being able to hear it, even the birds singing, everyday noises, people talking. My mother fainted and passed out when the doctor told her that I would never hear anything again. My siblings didn't know what to do with me....the adjustment from being hearing to becoming deaf wasn't easy....I withdrew into my own shell.
It took me a very long time to come to terms with it. I suffered from depression a very long time, in silence. No amount of encouragement helped me.
If my deafness were a gradual thing, perhaps I would have been better able to adjust. But it happened overnight, due to a surgery that damaged the nerves.
Fast forward to many years later....My faith has kept me strong. Have I adjusted 100%? Not quite....I know the sounds I am still missing. The adjustment of being a hearing person, then becoming a deaf person....is not easy.
So I do understand some people's perspective, Shel. Not to say it's the right one. but to "them", losing some of their hearing would be devastative to people. I've had people even say to me...."how do you do it?...it would drive me crazy if I was deaf....it must be terrible."....
