“it’s not what you tell them, it’s’ what they hear that counts”
Red Auerbach, Former Boston Celtic
s Coach
Communication is something that is so intrinsic and so key to all areas of life, and yet the source of so much conflict and misunderstanding. Perhaps if we made more efforts to develop and understand others then we would communicate more effectively, avoiding unnecessary conflict. It’s not enough (and one could say a sign of immaturity) to say “well I told them”. If they don’t understand, then we have to realise that is not simply their problem but ours too. We are the ones who need to work at making sure other people hear the right thing, what we intend them to hear.
The obvious question is how much as the church do we pay attention to this? Are we still expecting people to speak and understand our language without learning theirs?
And then in relationships, we begin to realise that maybe we aren’t so blameless after all and need to start taking some responsibility for how we communicate.
And in work it’s simply not a good enough excuse to use the ” I told him/her” as a means of shifting blame and avoiding responsibility.
Dammit, this means I need to work this out now..
the soapbox 
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