Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Easy but Hard


Things that are so common to us are often so unassuming. Listening is a thing we do everyday. We assume we listen to people and people listen to us. Yet there is so much miscommunication around us that had caused so much hurts, frustrations and misgivings.

How can such a simple thing be so difficult? Often than not we are selective listeners. We listen to what we want and not what has been said. We want to hear want we want to hear and not need to hear.

This accounts for the experiences that so often we have been misquoted and misrepresented. We would find ourselves saying "I did not say that". People around us thinked that we deny what we have spoken and that frustrates us.

Listening is a challenging job. It is more than the resonance of some waves in the air. It entails interpretation and understanding of many variable factors. I admire people who can listen well. The bible said it so well "My dear brothers (sisters included lest I am considered to be gender insensitive, ha ha ha), take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,  for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires"
Jas 1:19-20.

So simple yet so profound and perplexing, seems so easy yet so hard.