Saturday, August 4, 2012

Learn to Listen

These past few months have had me thinking a lot about what has been going on around the world and especially in this country. The USA was founded on the principle that everyman could contain a set of beliefs as dictated by his own conscience. No one could force another belief upon him. If he wanted to speak in contrast to what his neighbor said, he was welcome to, and revered for stating and standing behind his beliefs. But, lately I have been seeing the opposite coming into the mainstream. In my attempts to stay informed on the latest issues, learn about what is important and understand what our country is struggling with and picking leaders who will fight for those freedoms and unalienable rights that served as a basis for this nation, I am increasingly confused.

This post is a little different than my others. While it does not relate directly with male/female relationships and dating; it does relate to what has been the topic of a few posts. That would be the importance of communication. One important aspect, perhaps the most import, is that of listening. Yes, it is good to speak your mind, and do so in a clear concise manner so that others understand your position. However, we must also listen to what the other person is saying. We can't just hear, we hear everything, the birds in the spring time, the sound of a creek running serenely through the forest, a bear roaring at us when we enter its cave. So what? Just because we hear them doesn't mean that we understand what the birds are singing about. It doesn't imply that the we have learned what the creek is trying to teach. It also doesn't signify that we know the bear is angry for trespassing (although I'm sure it's safe to assume that we would be right in that instance).

Listening is what brings about true understanding. It is when we listen that we begin to comprehend what the other person is attempting to communicate to us. Unfortunately, I feel that we have forgotten how to listen. We spend so much time learning how to speak, how to stand-up and voice our opinions, that we never bother to learn what everyone else is voicing. It seems like the rhetoric of today is to just roar louder than the bear. It doesn't matter what the other is saying, as long as we are louder (i.e. have more voices behind us).

What exactly has this lack of listening brought about? Well, I think we have many good examples in the media today. Most recently an instance has occurred where someone was asked to voice an opinion. The person happily obliged and suddenly everyone has a stick up their butt about the whole thing. This person supported a particular view, he said he stood for something, believed that the issue at hand was already resolved and should not be changed. Those who are trying to change the issue then took what this man said and threw into outrageous proportions. Not only that, they failed to listen to what the man was saying. From what he said (which after reading the whole think, I think he could have been more tactful) the other side of the issue assumed a whole lot.

They began to accuse the whole organization of being hateful. They claimed that they sought to discriminate against certain people, of which they have no actual proof. Soon after this incident, prominent leaders began saying that this organization was no longer welcome. That they shouldn't seek to establish themselves any more inside certain communities. In fact, the very thing for which the organization was being decried, was beginning to happen. Soon, the organization was being discriminated against solely based on the premiss that they, or rather the man, stated his belief on a manner.

I don't get it. He was asked a question, and he answered it. So what if it wasn't what you believe? We are entitled to our differences, are we not? Why don't we try a little harder to understand each other? Why can't we take the time to seek clarification on a matter instead of automatically assuming the worse? If someone thinks differently, we shouldn't make them our enemy, we should seek to understand their point of view. Come to a comprehension of why they think that way. We shouldn't try to change their minds, we shouldn't force them into submitting. We have to learn to listen again, to understand. I would even go as far as proposing that we learn to listen more than we roar. Maybe if we did that, we wouldn't have so many problems.