There’s a group of students sitting in class right now rambunctious as ever. The teacher will respond with one word to settle them down and it won’t work as effectively as she wishes. Meanwhile, a girl ignores her significant other during a pointless argument and in turn will hear this word. Coaches will watch their team mess up and shout this. It is used again and again but the word never seems to fully fulfill it’s meaning.

We hear noise every single day but we’re not properly taking it in. From recent news with the presidential election to the issues all around the world, we’ll ignore one of our senses and be quick to jump back; attacking the other side for having a different viewpoint than us. Regardless if we are right or wrong, we will not take a single second to hear out the other stance to gain their insight.

Social media is notorious for helping us do just that. Instead of furthering our understanding of another side of a topic or controversy, we’ll just attack. Using all the words we can type out in anger, we’ll spit fire all our beliefs doing the best we can to have our once just a human being, now opponent feel bombarded and invaded without getting the opportunity to tell their side.

Do we ever truly just listen?

When I say listen, I do not mean let someone walk all over you; cowering down and not standing up for what you believe it. I just mean, don’t we want to take the time to understand the other side before we jump back? We say we do but do we ever actual just hear them and try to tie their shows and walk around for a little bit.

Our voices our important but so is everyones. The little old lady asking for someone to catch a bus when you were too busy strolling to class with your headphones on has a voice. The professor trying to teach you a lesson has a voice. The kid who voted for a whole other candidate has a voice. And all these voices come together to make up this world.

We get the freedom and opportunity to use our voices but if all we do is spend our lives shouting to be heard, who will sit back and listen? Listening is an underused skill we’ve learned from the first time we started blinking. It’s a part of our senses; giving us the ability to understand what is truly going on around us.

“The greatest motivation act that one can do for another is just to listen,” Roy E. Moody.

Fixing anything or solving any issue starts by this one action.