Hearing

​It seems to me that listening is really important.
I read a quote recently that said the more you listen the more you are listened too.
I reckon that is pretty right from what I have seen.  It amazes me how people tend to think someone is a great person even if all they have done is listened.  Shakespeare said to give everyone your ear but few your voice.  What I take from that is the importance of listening before I speak.
It seems to me now more than ever I need to weigh up what I hear.  That it is important to me to have the facts before I parrot what is being said.  I am seeing through minimal investigation the promotion of half-truths.  Things that are said that I can only agree with but are unproven as an answer to a problem being addressed.
Some doctors will say that listening is the greatest gift anyone can give.  Again, to me that seems pretty right.  It seems one of the greatest dirths being experienced at the moment is being unheard.  All, it seems to me have something to say but not all are heard.
In fact many have decided not to speak at all based on the previous common experience of not being heard.  Or if they are heard often the response is attempt to make the voice something that affirms a stance rather than seem as a cry for help.
Guy’s are particularly notorious at not sharing.  Thoughts are bottled up and tend to explode into some sort of outlet.
The remedy is simple yet hard.  It requires time and genuineness.  The time required is the time to listen.  Not listening with some obvious display that says I am listening because I feel obliged to, but listening to hear what is being said.
Sometimes the hearer has a remedy and sometimes the hearer has nothing but presence.  That matters less than someone feeling they are heard.