Auricle and oracle

Auricle. The outer ear. Auricular. Of or pertaining to the outer ear. Pinna. The ear, or to be more precise, the part of the ear that projects from the head like a little wing. In Latin, pinna means “wing.” Auriculectomy. Surgical removal of the outer ear, due to disease or trauma, generally followed by rehabilitation involving ear prosthesis.

Tomorrow we say good-bye to the pitiful remains of my outer left ear, may it rest in piece…well, in peace. Actually, it will rest in piece, since only a fourth of it is left, the other three fourths having been taken off in the past few years. That little “wing” has flown away.

People are funny when they see something they haven’t seen. They stare. They look all the time at my ear. I guess I don’t mind anymore and find their stares a bit amusing (most days…I’m not always that charitable). Sometimes they stare rudely. Sometimes they look discretely, sneaking glances in between forcing themselves by act of will to look mostly at my face. They are staring at a ‘freakshow’ before them. Having never seen my deformed ear, they can’t help themselves. I’ll be walking down the hall in a medical building, or crossing the terminal in an airport, and the head snaps never fail. Sometimes, I see a head snap and expect to hear a crash as they collide into a wall. One guy on a plane asked me if I got into tangle with Mike Tyson. Yes, those under 30 may not recall that a few years ago Mike Tyson was the most dominant boxer in the world. He inevitably declined in ability, purses and opponents. In his latter boxing years, he was called out during a match for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear.

Wounded warriors don’t stare. They understand. They are wounded too. Now I am not saying that I am in any way at the same place as a wounded warrior, particularly one wounded in combat. Not at all. But I am in my own way a wounded warrior, wounded by disease and left with an extremity removed.

And quite glad it is not a very important one. No, really, what do you need an outer ear for? I guess it channels sound to your ear canal so you can hear better. I hear fine, thank you very much. It also holds my glasses up. It gives symmetry to my head. But what else is it good for? I laughed out loud today when the PA told me that one result of this total auriculectomy was asymmetry. Yea, I guess it will look a bit strange to only have one outer ear (until the prosthetic is built) but considering that the alternative is death, seems like a good trade off to me. The same could be said of many other body parts. One day after I retire from the Army, maybe I’ll grow my hair out, or even (gasp) get a really bad comb-over to cover the ‘freakshow’ side.

But now I am about to say good-bye to a constant companion of 51 years, what remains of my left ear. Poor sad fellow, perplexed by a legion of malignant skin cells, gone to dark side of “omas” as melanin cells morphed into melanomas. Any physical condition with ‘oma’ in its name is a bad thing and will give you a bad day, one day.

How I abused it. As a kid, only rarely put sun screen on it. By the time I got diligent with the sunscreen, it was 30 years too late. Always drove the car and allowed the sun to beat down on it. Spent hundreds of days outside doing thousands of things, with never a care. Burn, blister, tan, burn, blister, burn, blister, burn, blister. It all adds up. After all, why do you think the melanoma capital of the world is Australia? Can you say “white people in the desert?” Well, that’s my theory, anyway…

Now to my point. The most important ears are not on your head. They are in your heart. From ancient times, it was believed that some people were oracles. Not to be confused with auricles, but it is easy to confuse the two. Oracles were believed to be people with prophetic powers through whom the gods spoke and from whom the future was revealed. After all, “an auricle is not an oracle because the ear shape does not possess oracular powers (http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/3286/9/?spage=20&letter=C.” In fact, only God has oracular powers. Only God can reveal the truth. Like an ancient rabbi once said, “he that has ears to hear, let him hear. “God give me ears to hear.” ©2010 Ray Woolridge