Listening Is Louder Than Speech

Where I come from, to give people advice is very cheap and affordable and some people only tend to hear more than they speak out. To get attention from people is a very rare thing these days because everywhere is filled with noise and also a lot of times, some conversations with some people are just about ego and showoff and nothing genuinely serious.

As a man, I have developed the habit of learning to pay attention to people because I have learned that from my mum who often time will allow me to finish what I am trying to say before she says her own. She does not interrupt, she never judged, she only pays attention and listens before coming up with her soft words or what ever she needs to say.

From my experience, I have seen that a lot of people usually mistake paying attention, listening with silence, no they are different because when you listen to someone, it means that you are paying attention to what they have to say without interrupting them. It means that you are trying to get meaning out of what they are saying before adding yours. In my culture, they usually say that when the elderly people are talking, the young ones must always listen. But for me, it should be reciprocal because that is where wisdom it. Listening should not be a one-sided kind of thing.

Even when we decide to take this the Bible way, which I sometimes like to do because they said that everything we are looking for is right there in the bible. From the book of James 1:19, we can see there that we should always be slow to speak and we must always listen first. Also in the book of Proverbs 18:13, we can also see there that only a foolish person will answer before speaking. As our culture is teaching us, so does the bible because these instructions might look very simple but they are what we need.

When I was still in two, I had a coursemate who usually heard what I had to say but in a few days time, he will have forgotten, and he just talk when he needs to. And I have this childhood friend too, a lady though, she will always remember things I said to her that I have even forgotten, she always listens to everything I have to say with an open heart, and I consider her to be someone special to be because in our world today, people like that are very rare to find.

And another thing that I have gotten to know that listening can solve a lot more problems than we can ever imagine. It can stop us from misjudging people, it can clear our doubts, it can prevent a relationship from crashing, it can build homes, it can even ease out tension and anger especially in this country that everyone just wants to talk, talk, and talk without knowing the source of what they are saying.

I am not a perfect listener myself because I am still learning but I am very far from just opening my mouth to speak without listening, because for me, listening to what others have to say is part of humanity. In a world where everyone is just making noise, you and I can always make that big difference if only we can listen attentively before we speak.

Thank you for reading.

_{Images are screenshot from the bible}