Culture of listening

Have you ever wondered why we don’t have a culture of listening? Why are we not interested in what the other would like to tell us?

I don’t know. Just have a few suspicions: We may not want to listen because nobody ever listens to us. Understandable! We also may remember situations where people laughed about what we said. They did not take us seriously. Hmm. Not exactly helpful for a culture of listening. In addition, we listen all day – to colleagues and bosses, to celebrities and politicians, to videos and television. Why then listen to a boring human being in the neighborhood when there are so much more exciting things to watch and to listen to?

But couldn’t we be the first ones to turn this around? Couldn’t our listening today have a domino effect? Can we listen so well that we find pure joy in understanding another human?