This summer, I have been teaching middle school students of West Side Saint Paul leadership skills through a summer program called West Side Youth Guides. My supervisor and I have created curriculum focused on themes such as confidence, creativity, public speaking, responsibility, etc; lined up community service projects for our youth guides to carry out in their local community and have brought in several guest speakers who have come in and enforce the importance of being a leader to the kids.

Just last week, two of my fellow Augsburg College classmates came in and informed the middle schoolers about Black Lives Matter, and spoke on how they’ve gotten involved in social justice issues that matter to them.

I was overjoyed when my friends agreed to come and speak to my class, which required them to rearrange their schedules a bit for nothing more than the mere chance that they’d be able to engage my students by speaking on such an important topic.

That small chance of engagement was crushed within the first two minutes of the presentation.

My supervisor and I mistakenly decided handing out snack at the beginning of the speech would be a good idea, only to be totally proven wrong when the kids seemed to be captivated with the chips we fed them every day, made the most obnoxious crinkling noises with their wrappers, got up to throw away their trash during the presentation, carried out side conversations, and showed little to no respect for our guest speakers. At one point, a kid sitting in the front row had to be woken up by one of the speakers.

Not only was I livid, but I was also so embarrassed on how disrespectful my students were to these guys who had taken the time out of their day to come and talk to us.

Although this incident was extremely disappointing, frustrating and nauseating, it was only the tipping point rather than the sole matter that inspired the Wrath of Katie. Unfortunately for my students, I didn’t come to this conclusion until I was driving home at the end of the day feeling guilty about the mouthful I had just left my students with.

I had been so taken aback by the lack of proper listening skills my students had displayed, and yet, could I really be this upset? These kids are growing up in a world where the norm is to come into a conversation with the intent of getting your own agenda across to others rather than just listening to their input. So often I find myself (a COMMUNICATION STUDIES student) entering into a conversation concerned with what my response is going to be to the person I’m talking to, prohibiting me from actually taking in everything they have to say.

I’ve witnessed our constant inability to keep ourselves from interrupting others brought on by the desire to have our opinions heard, prove a point, say the right thing or give some life-changing advice. We’re exposed to it when we watch the news or Sports Center (whose commentators are being paid to interrupt and banter with others), and in the majority of the conversations we come across on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having your voice heard and speaking your mind, but also making sure that by speaking your piece you’re not completely trampling on the opinion of another person.

And where has this lack of proper listening skills gotten us? Well, I think we’d all be lying if we said miscommunication and our aversion to listening to the opinions of those we disagree with had nothing to do with the division and hate that has consumed our nation and greater world.

I’m not going to be so naïve as to say that sitting down and chatting over a cup of coffee and listening to what our opposition has to say will solve all of the world’s problems. However, I do believe that if we work at becoming more willing to open up our ears and minds for others while we set our own thoughts aside, we slowly but surely may be able to make small amends with those we previously judged prior to listening to their whole story.