Stuttering for Meaning — Part 2/3
Even learning about my dyslexia and ADHD wasn’t enough, I craved meaning.
Last week I mentioned that comedy helped me accept my stutter. Unfortunately, at the time, there was nothing funny about waking up as a young lad wishing for my stutter to go away. The relentless teasing at school wasn’t easy.
Grade four was particularly tough. Once the entire class sang a song about me. I kept quiet; at least I knew how to do that.
I was twelve when I started speech therapy (which is late), up until then I got through without much support. I read about famous stutterers like James Earl Jones (Darth Vader); it was nice to know they overcame it but their stories still fell short. Even learning about my dyslexia and ADHD wasn’t enough, I craved deeper meaning.
Searching around, I found meaning from an unexpected place… religion.
One of my hobbies (among many) is comparative religion. I was introduced to something about Moses that I completely overlooked. For Jews, Christians and Muslims… Moses had a stutter. Pardon? God chose a stutterer to deliver his message? Why?
There is no consensus if Moses’ stutter was congenital or acquired. Regardless, he had what scholars called a “heavy tongue”.
The stutter was regarded as a necessary blessing. Moses had to carry God’s truth for the Israelites, a heavy tongue for a heavy burden. Like a bodybuilder lifting weights, the body shakes to maintain form.
Here is where my story unravels a dark truth of my youth, I didn’t stutter when I lied.
More next week.
Word count: 249
Twitter: @bhavprajapati
