The Town of Summerville has a rat problem. I first learned of this problem when we found out that rats had eaten through the floorboards of my shop and had gotten into the kitchen to steal our bread. As I spoke to other shop owners, I found out that they had placed rat traps and were chatting with each other over it. The rats were getting pushed. They were pushed right to our shop. It was disturbing at best. Later, my mother worked in one of the other shops where the owner just stated matter-of-factly that there is a rat problem in Downtown Summerville, and there always has been.
More recently, I have encountered furry little rodents outside of my home. I watched as they would race across our back patio from one yard to the next. We were their morning commute. I couldn't believe it. However, I was simple happy they were outside, and not inside! That I could live with. But I still found it odd. Something didn't seem right. I kept hearing a noise and it wasn't what I was used to. So, like any 30-something of the 21st century, I googled "Rat sounds." Sure enough, the noise I heard was their squeaking. It's funny, when we're kids we learn animal sounds. Dog says, "Woof" and cat says, "Meow" are staples to the preschool education. When we sing "Old McDonald" we seem to skip over rat. Mice are okay with their squeaking, I guess because they're cute. But we don't touch on the rat. I always assumed it was a little squeak like the mouse. Boy, was I mistaken. The rats have a squeak, but it's almost soothing like a serenade of crickets. That's how they get you to think you're safe. Now that I know what the rats' communication sounds like, I hear it all the time. I hear it at night in my neighbor's yard. I hear it in the mornings. It's all around me while I work out in the garage. The squeaky coos are heard in the neighborhood as I run through the hot summer air in the dark. And ya know what? I think they are more prevalent in the area because I don't think people know what rats sound like. I find this to be true in so many other forms of communication in our lives. We don't hear God, because we don't know his voice. We don't hear the truth in compliments, because we don't know the truth. We don't hear honesty if we've only ever hear lies. We don't know lies if we've only heard the truth. I have a hard time hearing kind words. Many of us do. I began to wonder why. I know, there are plenty of studies and psychological evaluations that can answer this, but I like to see it in the real world. I can recall a handful of times where I was complemented for my looks by my parents. One dress in particular that I wore to church, my parents always told me I looked pretty in. Every so often when I dressed up, I was told I looked nice. It wasn't that I was pretty in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I was never so beautiful when I sat around the house in sweats. I had to be decked out. And even then, the most commonly used complement was, "You look nice." That left me craving for anyone to call me pretty. However, teen and college years taught me that boys didn't care about pretty, they wanted the right body. (That I was more in line with than pretty, so I didn't mind.) Complements came, but not always in the most endearing way. Perhaps this combination of my past experiences has left me as a 35 year old that can't hear true complements. I hear the words, but I don't believe them. Just as I'm sure my neighbors hear the rats, but think they're something else. Some people are given constructive criticism and hear that they are terrible people, failures, a waste of human lifeforms. Others hear the same constructive criticism and hear that they are doing a great job, and could tweak a thing or two. Sometimes these times of friendly, growth enhancing conversations are met with anxiety and fear. Often times that anxiety and fear comes from past experiences influencing the immediate reactions. Other times, it's just that the person hasn't heard it before and doesn't know the proper response. We are being conditioned daily by the people in our lives. The words that we take in form a thought process that will last for years. When a new source tries to combat that, we often don't know how to respond. Is it true? Are there rats outside? No, that's just the crickets and some frogs. Or, do we put down the trap, and capture the rats that have lulled us into believing that everything is as it should be?
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