TO HEAR/TO LISTEN
Hearing and listening are not the same thing.
We may fail to realize such a distinction when we get involved in politics, or social and religious affairs. Far too many of us are hearing but not really listening to what is being said at times.
We have become skilled in being able to have others - people who should know more about a given subject than anyone - to tell us what was said and what it means to us. We are hearing but not heeding.
Much is lost by this conditon. In the recent Democratic party primary in Iowa it quickly became obvious that a great deal was being said was heard by noting the reactions of those who did not get the support they though they had.
We met with it when we were children. Most mothers have a cruel memory of some time when their offspring seemed to ignore the guidance and parental instructon. That spirit of contenion is, in a way, a sign of growth and an indication that the child is to grow and become an individual apart from protective parental care at every moment. Then, it may but a few years when it seems they are too dependant upon parental care, until teen age years intervene and decisions are made which are often final. Some go to an extreme at this time and are forever lost from parental associations. They hear but are incapable of listening to exactly what is being said.
In Iowa those running for office seem to have heard supporting sounds from the crowds attending the caucus gatherings. One may hear such outward expressions but listening must be a bit more selective. Hearers were impressed with the glitsy, carnival-like qualites of the presentations, the noise, the bombast, cheering, the touching upon points with which they were concerned, but not always were they so impressed with the speaker's seeming capability to solve the problems they felt to be important. Isn't it odd that the two men selected, seem to have been less show and more tell without ego-centered gushing. They did their thing without screaming, without beating the air with their clenched fists and without a constant flow of villifications being heaped upon the incumbent of the office to which they aspire.
Hearing is not always listening and seeing is not always believing, either.
It could be that the losers in Iowa spent far too much time condeming each other which has created a debt which will be paid when a Democrat faces George W. Bush in November. Voters will remember what his own associates accused him of being in the early phase of the campaign. If they don't remember, they will be reminded.
We do very little listening compared to the flood of hearing available to us as voters. But, we do selective listening and seek out firm understandings of those basics which enable us to continue
our form of government to yet another generation of citizens.
A.L.M. January 20, 2004 [c467wds]
