Bird Droppings September 13, 2019
Hearing and listening are critical

 

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Epictetus

 

A simple analogy yet we far too often do not understand that statement and perhaps it is because we have more jaw muscle than ear muscle. In education ninety-nine-point nine percent of the time if you the teacher listen, students will learn more. That almost sounds like a paradox.

 

“Lenin could listen so intently that he exhausted the speaker.” Isaiah Berlin

 

I have never seen nor heard this about Lenin, as I recalled the many pictures there are of him all show him intently staring. Even in death with his glass coffin that still is on display.

 

“Listen or thy tongue will keep you deaf.” Native American Indian Proverb

 

Anyone that knows me has seen me taking pictures, tens of thousands of pictures of school, grandbabies, nature and athletic events. Digital cameras can be wonderful tools in the classroom as well. I was taking some pictures of twin day one time during one of the Homecoming dress up days and one student was blurred in every photo. She is very ADHD and evidently that day was a bad day for her being hyper. But in her constant moving she wouldn’t stop talking as well and I would say be still and bouncing around she would ask what did you say? Even in taking a picture of two of her friends she moved and she wasn’t in the picture till she moved.

 

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Winston Churchill

 

Far too often we do not stop to hear what is being said both as teachers and students of life.

 

“The young people who come to me in the hope of hearing me utter a few memorable maxims are quite disappointed. Aphorisms are not my forte; I say nothing but banalities…. I listen to them and they go away delighted.” Andre Gide

 

When teachers or parents ask me how I know something about a student I generally say I listened to them.

 

“I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying.” Charles C. Finn

 

In our chaotic world so often we miss pieces, bits and tiny segments sometimes what is not said or done is as crucial as all that happens.

 

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” Peter F. Drucker

 

The great business consultant and author Peter Drucker offers again we need to not only listen but understand and then read between the lines.

 

“The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.” Tommy Smothers

 

I was always a big fan of The Smothers Brothers back in the day and find interesting how such a simple thought could in effect be a powerful one. If you do not want to hear it don’t listen but let the person speak their piece.

 

“I guess I’ve spent my life listening to what wasn’t being said.” Eli Khamarov

 

If we could perhaps things would be different. In politics a journalist is free who was jailed for not speaking out and telling sources however now she is speaking and repercussions could be great.

 

“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” Robert Fulghum

 

Dr. Laura Nolte so long ago said “Children learn what they live” interesting that what they hear was not as significant.

 

“Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” James Baldwin

 

Each day I watch and listen and deal with issues of teenagers and so many are simply imitating what they have learned from home mirror images of mom and dad or whomever is the one at the house. For today please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and always give thanks namaste.

 

My family and friends I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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