How to make a radio host speechless – Lucy Holmes
Stories | August 6, 2018
Lucy Holmes, Light FM Radio Host, invites readers into her emotional and raw account of what it is like to witness a Miracle.
I am never lost for words. Ever. I can’t be. You see, my job is a Radio Host. I can talk underwater. Give me any topic, and I’ll give you my opinion. I rarely shut up.
So it’s very rare I am speechless. But I am about to shut up… and for a good reason.
What you won’t read in the headlines.
I’m heading off soon to a remote corner of Vietnam. There will be flights, more flights, bumpy car rides for hours through mountains… (probably some car sickness too)… and I will arrive at the place where I will finally lose the ability to string a sentence together.
How can I explain this best?
I’m off to witness a Miracle.
And when you’re in the presence of a moment so magical and humbling as a Miracle, well there are no words needed. In fact – there are no words that do that Miracle justice. So I serve the silence by being speechless, as the beauty and majesty of the moment wash over me. Even if I wanted to speak, I wouldn’t be able too. That’s how it is when you see a Miracle.
It will be quiet. Unassuming. Still.
It will be humbling and emotional.
It will be insanely beautiful.
It will be a Miracle of extraordinary proportions.
How do I know it will be all those things? Well I’ve done this before. Many times. And each time, I’m silenced by the gravity of the situation.
Why your help is needed in Vietnam
For my fourth time with CBM, I am about to head off to a regional Vietnamese eye hospital. The majority of the patients are people who are blind from cataracts, most of whom have travelled long distances to be here. Some have been blind for a few months, some a few years. Some a few decades. There will be old men, there will be young mums, there will be tiny babies. All blind.
Can you just take a moment to imagine that?
A Practical Exercise for you… Imagine this with me
Picture being completely blind, surrounded by darkness… perhaps you’ve been blind for decades. You live in a developing country, and you’re probably completely dependant on your family to keep you alive. You struggle to work, and you rarely leave the shack you call your home. It feels lonely, you begin losing hope…for some, this is blindness.
And the tragedy is, it’s completely preventable.
Then someone tells you that there is an eye hospital that will help you, and it will only take a 12 minute painless operation and you will be able to see again. And it’s only $33.
Imagine the chance to see your children laugh.
To see the FACE of your child.
See the street in front of you so you can walk safely.
See your hands, so that you can earn a living and provide food and shelter for your family.
Then… imagine not being able to access that operation. Living life. Without sight.
Now you understand your impact
It is for this reason, that year in year out, I choose to make Miracles Day my priority.
I ditch the comforts of life for a week and visit people living in poverty with disability to do that which I can do: spread the word about why these people need our help…and how simple it actually is for us to do just that.
This Miracles Day, I hope you will join Kel and myself as we take you on the journey of witnessing Miracles all over again in Vietnam.
To read more about Miracles Day visit cbm.org.au/miraclesday
https://www.cbm.org.au/stories/radio-hosts-speechless
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