Many times in their lives, in many different aspects of it, people have gone through having an idea, having a contribution to make to someone else, trying to improve things, attempting to feel valuable for themselves.
In those few cases where an eloquent and awkward, yet devastating silence is not the easy answer of those who already have made their minds up, it is not uncommon to get a polite smile back together with nice sounding words: “I hear you, but…”
These words are usually just a standard introduction to enumerating all the reasons that person has to let you know in front of everybody in the room how stupid you have been for attempting to speak up, and to make sure you understand your opinion will be treated with kingly disregard. The real plain translation is more about “I already made my mind up; I have been magnanimous enough to let you know about my thoughts.Now shut up, and do as you are told”.
Someone said that courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is as well what it takes to sit down and listen; he was awarded a Nobel Prize, by the way.
How many times will we still miss a reply starting with “I listen to you, and…”
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