We Can All Learn from Each Other

Most people have something that they can teach us. When I say we in this post I am including myself. I make no claims to perfection. Sometimes we pay too much attention to a speaker's age, education, vocabulary or accent instead of listening to what that person is really saying. If we allow the above mentioned factors to keep us from learning what someone has to teach us we are are the ones who have lost an opportunity. We are hurting ourselves more than we are the ones to whom we refuse to listen. I have been guilty of doing this myself. Sometimes too we spend too much time thinking of how we are going to respond to what someone is saying than we spend really listening to what they are saying. I have had people say that they are surprised that I really listen to what people say to me during conversation, but I have been guilty of trying to think of something clever to say instead of listening completely to what the other person is saying. It will not do any good to beat myself for having done this in the past. The beneficial thing for me to do is to resolve to listen to what other people have to say instead of how they say it or trying to appear clever.