Those of you who follow movies and movie reviews have certainly heard of Roger Ebert. You’ve also probably heard of the health trials he’s experienced in the past few years, culminating in the loss of his voice.

I’ve been following Roger Ebert on Twitter for the past several weeks. He generates a lot of tweets. Initially, I wondered if they would overwhelm my patience. It seemed like Roger generated a lot of ‘stream of consciousness’ tweets. I soon wondered  if maybe I should follow more people who are equally interesting, but who tweet less often. Sort of a quality/quantity consideration.

As these thoughts went through my mind over the past several weeks, thinking  about his circumstances and continuing to read his tweets, I decided that the quality was worth the quantity. I thought a lot about the frustrations he must feel; such a talkative man losing the power of speech.

I’ve thought about it a lot … But Roger wrote a piece tonight on his blog, and it got me closer to understanding his plight. Mind you, I don’t claim I do understand it, nor do I think anyone can who hasn’t experienced what he experiences every day, but the insights he offered to his experience touched me in a new way.

I hope you will share it, as well. Here’s the link to “Trying to get a word in edgewise”: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/12/trying_to_get_a_word_in_edgewi.html.

I hope you’ll read it and think about it , and think about the people that we meet only occasionally but who live with the inability to speak every day of their lives. Think about it the next time you have a lively discussion, maybe in a noisy place. Think about it and try not to take it for granted.