"DO PEOPLE REALLY LISTEN?"

“DO PEOPLE REALLY LISTEN?”

A common thing to say to a person upon seeing him or her is to ask, “How are you?” We hope that they will say fine and go on their way as it’s a natural thing to expect. But if someone proceeds to tell you how awful they are feeling and go on and on, we get disgusted. We want them to stop with just a few words.

But when it is you or me and we are having a bummed out day, we sometimes tell the truth and then think “Should I have said that?” And we wait for some calming words, some of which are never said. We wanted that but ah, we have to remember that we don’t like to listen to others troubles and therein lies the problem. Honesty should rule but it generally doesn’t for we are in too much of hurry to get somewhere or do something. A crisis could come down and if it did, the guilt would stay with us---hanging over us like a big sheet. We do the same thing on the phone: We hope that the answer will not be dragged out but if it is us, then it's a different story.

There are clues in the eyes and face of the person: We can tell if they are happy, sad, angry or mad. There are major clues in the tone of the person's voice and we all know that. Do we pick up on these? Of course we do but we usually ignore them and ignore more if the person is ready to scream at us or go balistic. In essence, all of us need to take time to listen when a person replies to “How are you? Might get rid of guilt should we get it foisted upon us or save a life—if the person is truly in danger and wants to tell us.

Next time you happen upon someone and say the above, stop and listen for you never know: It could be life changing for that person and for you as well.



Sherry Hill