Learning to Listen
I was reading an article this morning, and this statement by President Jordan of Gallaudet University really impressed me. This applies to both people who are deaf and people who have hearing.
“I’ve had to become a really good listener, which I hadn’t been. And think before speaking. I used to talk really fast. Now I try hard to think first and speak second or better still, not speak at all. Understand and respect different points of view. I’ve learned how life experiences lead people to different ways of seeing the world. I didn’t always understand that and still don’t as much as I should. But now I more often think, Why does that person see this differently? What am I missing? What experience led him or her to think this?” –Gallaudet President I. King Jordan
This reminds me of James 1:19 “…Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger…”