Monday, March 17, 2008

Selective Hearing.

Other people can be annoying sometimes can’t they? Sometimes you feel like saying, “ People, Hey! Cant' live with them and can't live without them!” don’t you?
Despite that, there are always a few that make you want to try though, don’t they? Sadly whatever we do though, we will come across people like that don't we? Even on the Blogesphere! Although there, it is much easier to disconnect from them than in real life isn't it? So how do you deal with these people when they occur? Well, I guess there are many ways to deal with them and the best is to avoid these people permanently.
Unfortunately it is not always possible to do this is it? Sometimes you just have to hang in there, until they are satisfied or go away don’t you? That and to become selectively deaf!
When in the former Transkei, we tried walking around the slum areas there (Where most of the Xhosa speakers were) to try and learn their language. My wife was a lot better at “Hearing” things than me, (although I was quicker to pick up the speaking part.) However, there were many times I would say, "AndiQondi." (I don't understand) And my wife would start to say what was actually said, and I would quietly say, "Shut up and keep walking." I had heard enough to know I didn't like where it was leading and just wanted to get away from it, and them, as quickly as possible and usually it worked effectively. We avoided a few possibly prickly situations by simple not hearing/ understanding, and then by removing ourselves politely, before anything more serious developed.
I don’t know what situations you find yourself in that you would rather not be in but maybe next time, a hearing difficulty may be to your advantage? I know that this is not always possible in a work situation to avoid everything, but maybe a bit of selective hearing may help defuse possible flare-ups for you too. Anyway it may be worth a try! What say you?

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