Listen to Understand

Listen to Understand by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette

Jesus said, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it shall be measured to you; and more shall be given you besides.” ---Mark 4:24 McGraw Hill’s textbook, The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas, includes a whole chapter on “listening.” Lucas wrote, “Although most people listen poorly, there are exceptions. Top-flight business executives, successful politicians, brilliant terachers — nearly all are excellent listeners.” I n t e r e s t i n g l y , those who have worked closely with President Trump describe him as a good listener who listens to everyone. Lucas goes on to write,”According to one study, more than 60 percent of errors made in business come from poor listening. When business managers are asked to rank-order the communications skills most crucial to their jobs, they usually rank listening number one.”

Listening by itself is not beneficial unless it’s followed by understanding. Most people listen to reply, not to understand. Those who listen to reply are more apt to misunderstand and to disagree.

Have you ever witnessed, read, or seen something that confirms what you’ve always believed? Sure!

Afterward have you ever learned from clear evidence that your memory of that “something” was not accurate? That’s called long-term memory distortion. It’s not uncommon.

A friend and I were discussing what we might learn from declassified documents of JFK’s, MLK’s, and RFK’s assassinations. We had read a post on Facebook by someone who confidently stated he always knew who killed JFK. He was really angry and turned his anger toward all the “lies” we hear today.

We soon found evidence of misinformation in the writer’s rant and concluded something was amiss, even though we had believed evidence that “proved” JFK’s assassination was not the result of one man acting alone.

Then my friend told me a story about a baseball game between Notre Dame and our beloved MSU Bulldogs in 2000. He vividly remembered a terrible collision at home plate that was illegal. My friend said, “From then on, every time he came to bat, there was a storm of boos and jeers from the home crowd.”

My friend, a fellow faculty member here at MSU, then confessed, “For years, I told the story in class, that [the Notre Dame player] rounded third base, saw we had him dead to rights, and took the only out he could think of, absolutely smashing into our catcher.”

After a pause, my friend told me his memory of the play was exactly opposite of what he had believed. In the 2000 game one of our baserunners plowed into the Notre Dame catcher in a great collision. In 2021 we played Notre Dame at home during our National Championship run, and the national press wrote about the collision at home plate in 2000. My friend was horrified that he had not only misremembered the event, but that for 21 years he had told his students the wrong story. R e m e m b e r i n g and believing are married. Why do we believe what we believe? Do we critically examine what we witness and hear? Do we listen to understand? Is anger quicker than our own understanding? Anger blinds reason and hides truth. “

But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” ---James 1:19-20 Page A2 Thursday, May 15, 2025 MAGNOLIA GAZETTE