I’m often fascinated with humans. We can be so ridiculous. Regardless of the evidence to suggest otherwise, we’re convinced that we are, almost without fail…
- the one in the right
- the one being “wronged”
For example – and I’m as guilty as anyone with this one – When we’re in a hurry, we get incredibly annoyed with slow drivers. How dare they poke in our way?! Why don’t they just stay home?! Yeah, that’s reasonable – they should stay home just because they hinder our speed. A few days ago, I was in a blistering hurry and a woman (around 70 years old) was in front of me going about 5 under the speed limit. Before realizing it, I mentally called for her license to be cut up.
Mind you, I kept my distance because the only thing worse than slow drivers are the goobers who get right up on their backside. But, I definitely wanted to cut up her license…. simply because she was slowing me down. And it was my own fault! I’M the one who should have left earlier. Obviously she did.
However, when we’re out for a casual drive, how mad do we get when other drivers are rushing around?! We’re like, “Where’s the fire?!” or “Go, ahead, drive like hell, you’ll get there soon enough.” That one’s always a lovely sentiment.
Ridiculous humans!
Another example is one that I’m actually not remotely guilty of (go figure!). Have you ever seen someone who was flabbergasted, annoyed, and generally peeved because they were asked to repeat something? Then, have you seen the SAME person get flabbergasted, annoyed, and generally peeved when they have to ask someone to repeat something? When they have to do the repating, it’s the OTHER person’s fault. They either:
- weren’t paying attention
- weren’t listening
- can’t hear worth a lick!
When they have to ask for something to be repeated, it’s the OTHER person’s fault, of course. They either:
- mumbled
- whispered
- didn’t say it right
The point is, we all have to ask for things to be repeated sometimes. Sometimes there’s too much background noise and we didn’t quite catch it. Sometimes the other person REALLY didn’t have their volume turned up very loud. And sometimes, someone speaks to us when our thoughts are a billion and one miles away.
It happens!
Also, I’ve noticed that if my sinuses are really full, it affects my hearing. It kind of feels like I just got out of a swimming pool sometimes.
If you find yourself having to ask for things to be repeated from just about everyone (as opposed to only one or two people) on a regular basis, you might want to get your hearing checked. Getting corrective hearing devices is no different than getting a pair of glasses or contact lenses. They open up a whole new world and you’ll be amazed at everything you’re missing! I’ll never forget the look on my mom’s face when she heard birds singing again. She was like, “Joi! Do you hear that? Birds!“
I just don’t get why people on either side of the equation get annoyed. I mean, how hard is it to repeat a couple of words?! Smile (after all, they actually care enough to want to hear what you said) and simply repeat what you said. If you keep getting annoyed, they’ll eventually quit caring what you ever have to say! I noticed this with my mom and mother in law. They each became very hard of hearing. Most of us simply turned our volumes up around them, without getting annoyed (of course). However, some impatient people would act “put out” when they had to repeat something – so both ladies simply wouldn’t ask them to repeat. They’d either just laugh or say something completely off the wall. My mother in law would sometimes just say, “Hmph.” Such a character. The look on her face when she hmph-ed was priceless!
Also, a word of advice is you happen to know someone who is a little (or a lot) hard of hearing… this should be obvious, but if they keep asking you to repeat yourself, guess what… you aren’t talking loudly enough for them! Here’s the thing, people speak in different tones and volumes and sometimes one person out of a hundred has trouble “tuning into” your frequency. If it’s the case, for both of your sakes, speak up!
Finally, I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t throw in a little motherly wisdom: Take care of you ears. There’s absolutely no reason to play a radio (especially in a car or with headphones) as loudly as most people do. It’s horrible for your ears. Turn the music down for crying out loud – it’ll still be the same music.
You’ll just be able to still enjoy it 10 years from now.
Clint Cora says
The hearing and listening issue gets compounded when trying to communicate with others with thick foreign accents but that’s reality in diverse communities now.