The place was Hanover on a hot and humid evening in late June. The annual back-yard steak-fry had sated Masons from across the province. Two hundred were packed into the lodge room in the converted country schoolhouse, including six Past Grand Masters. Those who couldn't be seated were watching on video screens in a much cooler basement.

The Grand Master was about to make a speech. Everyone knew what to expect. The lodges in Ontario had contributed almost $1,900,000 for the Help-to-Hear project and the expectation was that, with just a little push, the fund could top the goal of $2 million. He'd tell us about it.

Imagine. Every newborn in Ontario assured a legacy of hearing thanks to neo-natal auditory tests and high tech.

But instead of speaking, the Grand Master deferred to a brother at the back of the room, Darryl Hannah, a past Master of Hanover No. 432 and current Director of Ceremonies. "I was all set to give a speech," said Bob McKibbon, "until I talked with Brother Hannah at supper. He has something to tell you that will bring joy to your hearts."

Digressing briefly, I recall a lesson from when I was a young reporter. I'd handed my report of a tragic accident to the Editor of the Guelph Daily Mercury. "The uncle," I had written,"…had cried like a baby".

My editor tore a strip off me. "A baby cries because he's wet or hungry. A man's tears come from unbearable sorrow, from emotions beyond words, or from unbounded joy. A man does not cry like a baby."

The visit to Hanover was one of great emotion.

Darryl Hannah arose in the West, tried to speak, and lost his voice. He was asked to come to the East. Even from there, his voice broke several times and he was handed kleenex to dry his face.

Darryl's son, Joshua, was born "hearing impaired". In another age he would have been called "deaf". Lacking one major sensory input, his education would have started later ---much later--- and probably resulted in his being taught in a residential school, separated from his siblings, his parents and his friends.

But Joshua was tested at birth. The problem was made known.

Back in 1978 the Ontario Masons initiated another child-help program called HELP (Hearing for Every Living Person) through the Masonic Foundation. It made cochlear implants available, artificial pickups implanted in the ear and hot-wired to nerves, not unlike those super-ears of the "Six Million Dollar Man" or the "Bionic Woman." Joshua was slated for one such implant when he was old enough.

Darryl Hannah, a loving father, led us through the process. Infant Joshua underwent many tests before it was determined, at the age of 18 months, that he would benefit and that he was ready. The procedure isn't a speedy process where the device is implanted and just plugged in. The levels of sound had to be predetermined to avoid confusing Joshua with a cacophony shattering his world of silence. Loud sounds can actually cause pain, and Joshua had no way of shouting "Stop!".

The big event was in London's Children's Hospital/Royal Vic.

"We are ready to turn it on now," the medical team told Darryl and his wife Leanne, "and we'll be quiet. The first sounds he hears will be the voice of his mother and father."

"The first sound Joshua heard," recalls Daryl, "was the sound of his own name. I said "Joshua", and we saw a new light in Joshua's eyes. He had heard."

A few more kneenex were needed in the crowd.

You had to be there.

-end-

*Mordecai Richler..."Joshua Then and Now"