Yesterday, I was driving my granddaughter to meet Peppa Pig. The radio happened to be on and it was one of those “my favourite tracks” sessions. The subject, I can’t remember who it was and it doesn’t really matter anyway, played Michael Jackson’s ‘The Man in the Mirror’, introducing it with comments to the effect that it was a song about how effecting change in the world necessitated starting with the man in the mirror (that is, yourself). I have heard this track many times and never, ever made that connection.
Then, this morning, I am driving that same grand daughter to nursery listening to a programme about The Jam Generation – that generation brought up in the 1980s with The Jam as part of their youthful soundtrack. The commentator seemed surprised that some senior Tories claimed to enjoy The Jam, and other groups of that ilk, despite the relatively left wing nature of their lyrics. He could not understand how they could subscribe to the lyrics in the song and yet be right-leaning Tories.
What both of these incidents suggested to me was the difference between hearing something and listening to it.
I have heard the Michael Jackson track many times and many times I have explained to other people that when I am listening to music. I very rarely pay attention to the specific words in the lyrics. More, I am concerned with the patterns of sound.
In the second case there the similarity, the commentator did not seem to acknowledge the possibility that these right-wingers could be hearing the lyrics while not listening to the words.
Now this observation is no great shakes but it does remind me of the need to be clear about whether a conversation I am part of is simply part of my life’s soundtrack or something whose contents might have much more meaning if I paid attention to what the other person was saying. Listening is an active process, its demands mental effort.
So today my challenge is to pay active attention when you are listening – whether to the radio, your colleagues at work, your partner, or whoever. Maybe it’s okay to have the radio on as a background soundtrack; but surely when we are face-to-face with someone they deserve as much attention from those as we might expect from then in reverse
Hi Geoff,
I totally agree! I often say to my OH you might hear what I’m saying but you’re not actually listening! lol
My son actually listens to music via the sound/rythms etc/ and can seldom tell you what the lyrics are – he takes after OH, in our house the males do the music and the females do the words.
It takes effort to listen to what people are actually saying and that’s a talent I don’t think politicians have hence tories professing to like a group who’s message is the opposite of their beliefs – they are politicians so have an innate ability not to listen, they just hear the music!
Good luck with your challenge it’s a tough one! 😉
Thanks for the feedback Sally, always welcome.
BTW – I did not intend to make any political point, it just so happened that the commentator I referred to used this example; I suspect we could find left-wingers listening to right wing songs as well…