A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions (Proverbs 18:2).

We're all looking to be understood, but nobody is trying to understand.  We're all looking to sell our perspective, but no one is buying.

It's like we're all writing these little editorial manifestos in our basements, with our little desktop publishers.  Whether in writing or in speaking, we produce paragraphs upon paragraphs and pages upon pages of information expounding our opinions on the world around us.  Then we print, or copy, or mimeograph a thousand copies of our little two-page leaflet, and we camp out in front of the grocery store, trying to peddle our little papers off on to anyone who happens to pass by.  "Here ya go, mister.  Take one of these."  Anything other than a flat-out "No" is an invitation to press another flyer on another shopper.  Sometimes, we'll even start yelling in an attempt to catch the others' attention and raise awareness of our special publication, over and above the dozens and dozens of other micro-publishers doing the same thing in front of the same store: "Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!  Eric Asp thinks that basketball is a better sport than soccer!"  But nobody is listening.  Nobody is reading the pieces.  Nobody really cares.  All the little micro-published editorial flyers end up crumpled in garbage cans or soiled as the lining of bird-cages.  And yet we just keep printing more copies, putting in more hours in front of the grocery store, and yelling a little bit louder to the disinterested masses.  It's absurd.  But it's not that far removed from our day-to-day reality.

I've witnessed conversations in which two people have talked at each other for two hours, back and forth, back and forth -- each one trying to get across a single, simple point but neither one succeeding because they just weren't listening to one another.  They delighted in airing their own opinions, but they found no pleasure in understanding.  In the end, the delight was overshadowed by the frustration of having no receptacle for all the opinions floating around in the air.

So how meaningful could it be if someone deliberately sought to understand the myriad voices around us?  How powerful could it be to consciously suppress one's own desires to air one's own opinion -- in order to create room to absorb the things that other people are trying to broadcast?  How impactful could it be to listen?  It could be exhausting.  It could be painful at times?  But man, it could really change relational dynamics and even societal dynamics!  Over the last several years, I've learned a lot about a ministry organization called Equipping Ministries International, who offers training materials for "Listening for Heaven's Sake," "Speaking the Truth in Love," and "Renewing the Mind" (among others).  And while they don't pay me anything to say this, I would submit that their materials could be an excellent first step towards reversing the conundrum presented in Proverbs 18:2 and equipping oneself for a ministry of listening.  It may take quite awhile before all the hawkers in front of the supermarket pack up shop and head home, satisfied that they've finally been understood.  But oh, to imagine the possibilities...