“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!” A child shrieking.
“Danny! What is it? What’s wrong?” Mother burst through the bedroom door.
“There’s a monster in my room!”
His mother sits on his bed and takes him in her comforting arms.
“It’s alright Danny, there’s no such thing as ‘monsters’!”

Danny’s mother lied to him. There are monsters in our world.

 

Humans have a tendency to make a whole lot of assumptions. It’s almost as if it were in our nature (and I think that it is of course). We make assumptions about others. This can be a tactic of survival and in that way it may be important, as long as it’s not taken too far. One of the most critical things I have ever learned in this life was an idea of Steven Covey. He recommends that when you are in conversation with another person, and the other person is talking to you, you should simply listen and try to understand what they are saying. Easy enough, right? In other words, while the other person is talking, don’t be thinking of your response. Doesn’t that just seem polite? Think about it though… you do, do this! We all do. But training yourself to listen, really listen, is the mark of real respect.