A teacher once asked my class, "Are you listening to me or just hearing?" At the time, I probably rolled my eyes and shrugged it off as just another question that frustrated teachers ask. Lately, however, I have been thinking about that question a lot.
I find that I've been thinking about this question most often when I hear or read people discussing politics. Personally, I am still learning when it comes to politics. I understand that I am ignorant about many topics that, for now, I prefer to listen and learn, rather than speak my mind.
Not everyone around me seems to feel the same.
Without fail, every discussion on politics that I observe escalates quickly into angry shouting or typing. I have friends and family members with different political beliefs and I often see their discussions dissolve into ideological shouting matches. More often than not, I find myself stuck in the middle.
We as a society have let the labels, stereotypes, and propaganda lead us away from intelligent debate. If we stopped, took a moment to breathe, and listened to the people that we are "supposed" to be fighting against, we would find that we don't actually disagree on the big things. Don't get me wrong. There are going to be some people that no matter how much listening you do, you'll still disagree with. That's okay.
What I've learned from really listening is that most of the people that I surround myself with are good people. They have the same morals and the same belief in humanity. They have the same hope for future generations. The disagreements that they have with others are mostly about how to achieve what they believe is best. If they listened to each other and communicated effectively, they would discover that their beliefs are not too different. With some discussion, maybe they would even find a compromise between their position and their ideological opponents.