The Power of Listening

We have become very good at talking.

We share opinions quickly. We respond before someone has finished explaining. We sometimes disagree with people we have never taken the time to understand.

But listening is different.
Listening requires patience. It requires us to put our own assumptions aside for a moment and allow another person to tell us how they see the world.
It does not mean we have to agree.
Two people can have completely different opinions and still treat each other with dignity. That may sound simple, but in a world where disagreement can quickly become hostility, it is something worth protecting.
Maybe some of our biggest problems are not caused by the fact that we disagree, but by the fact that we have forgotten how to disagree without dehumanizing one another.