Jean Abitbol: “Our voice is a treasure”

You publish The voices of our life …what should we hear?

There are eight billion human beings on Earth, which corresponds to as many voices. Each reflects our uniqueness and our emotions, while allowing us to interact with others. Our voice is a treasure whose inestimable value we forget because we are so accustomed to it. It’s time to fix it!

What does this book reveal about you?

Even before becoming an ENT, the voice played a determining role in the practice of my profession. In 1979, when I was starting out as a country doctor in Seine-et-Marne, the telephone rang in the middle of the night. At the end of the line: a father, alarmed by his daughter’s state of health, forgets to introduce himself. Guided by the familiar intonation, I immediately identify my interlocutor. I was able to make an initial diagnosis and go to the patient’s bedside, in a small farm about twenty kilometers from Provins.

What is the voice that makes you happy?

The one whose sincerity I feel. What a great pleasure to deal with a person who is not in appearance, but in being!

The one that soothes you?

The voice that knows how to listen to my silences.

The voice you’ll never get tired of listening to?

That of my missing loved ones. Before my grandmother died, my father made a point of recording her voice on a tape recorder to remember her. After his death, he got into the habit, on Sunday afternoons, of listening again with me to this warm, calm, serene and wise voice.

And then, there is also that of my children and grandchildren, very much alive. They thrill me with my whole being and remind me of my duty to transmit.

Which voice will save the world?

The one who will be able to serve as a bridge between men. With his “I Have a Dream”, Martin Luther King managed to bring a fraternal message to us.

The Pope grants you an audience; What question is burning on your lips?

How to stay in harmony with humanity? I am of Jewish faith, and Christmas represents in my eyes the most beautiful holiday in Christianity.

It offers the opportunity to draw on our inner and family strengths, placing the child at the center of our thoughts.