- Ruben Stone: Like, what does it matter? What does it matter? It just passes. Yo. If I disappear, like, who cares? Nobody cares, man. Seriously. Yo, and that's okay. That's life. That's life. No, for real. Okay? It just passes. It just fucking... fucking passes.
- Joe: I wonder, uh, all these mornings you've been sitting in my study, sitting, have you had any moments of stillness? Because you're right, Ruben. The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place. But for me, those moments of stillness, that place, that's the kingdom of God.
- Joe: Ruben. As you know, everybody here shares in the belief that being deaf is not a handicap. Not something to fix. It's pretty important around here. All these kids... all of us, need to be reminded of it every day.
- Joe: Let's talk about me. I'm an alcoholic. I lost my hearing in the Vietnam war when a bomb exploded near me. I still remember the music I was listening to when that bomb went off. After that, I lost everything else. My wife, my kid. Not because of being deaf, mind you, Ruben. It was the beer.
- Joe: You should understand that, uh, this is a Deaf community, not just my program, but we're part of a larger Deaf community, and my program and the people in it, they benefit tremendously from that Deaf community. We work with them, and they work with us. But, it's very important, if you want to be here, to understand we're looking for a solution to, to this
- [points at forehead]
- Joe: , not this
- [points at ears]
- Joe: .
- Joe: How are you, Ruben?
- Ruben Stone: I'm okay.
- Joe: You're an addict?
- Ruben Stone: Yeah.
- Joe: What sort of drugs?
- Ruben Stone: What'd I take?
- Joe: Mm-hmm.
- Ruben Stone: Everything
- [laughs]
- Ruben Stone: . Mainly heroin... Heroin
- [does injection motion on arm]
- Ruben Stone: .
- Joe: Have you thought about using since your lost your hearing?
- Ruben Stone: Today is not a good day... I'm not thinking clear today.