Have we lost our ability to hear?
It feels like we’re getting better at speaking out but not so much at listening.
In Western society as we know it, there has been such emphasis on looking out for ones’ self. “You look out for you”, “Protect yourself’, “Be careful who to trust”, as if we’re always in the right. But if everyone is always right, and only looking out for themselves, who’s left to look out for each other?…
The thing is though, we’re not always right are we? No one is always right.
We all come from different backgrounds, different experiences, different hurts, different wins, and we’ve each got our own valid perspective.
But it doesn’t end there.
We don’t live alone on this planet.
At the moment, it seems our general society has forgotten how to respect anyone else’s opinion but their own.
There’s so much anger and resentment, impatience, intolerance and fear. The belief that anything that is not understood, must be an attack. It must be a threat.
It seems one can not speak openly without offending. And instead of seeking to understand and accept one another, it has become acceptable to shut people out. Without word or explanation. Without second thought. To close the door on one another because it’s easier than sorting through some uncomfortable feelings that have arisen due to a misalignment. (I remember doing that out of fear, a lot do it in anger.)
So have we lost our ability to have a two-way conversation?
It’s not ‘wrong’ to have a differing opinion. It doesn’t make us bad people if we want different things.
We need to remember how to respect and love one another FOR our differences. To keep the doors open. Keep the conversations going, and listen. Value each other.
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to live in a world that works together, celebrates and embraces our differences. Appreciates all flavours and experiences.
And whilst the door has been shut on me many times, I have faith that I will find the people that are willing to keep them open.
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