—From the editorial “Seen and Not Heard,” from the June 6, 1925, issue of The Saturday Evening Post
Many of the failures in human exchanges are caused by one person holding the stage so long that the reasonable feelings of the other person don’t find a natural expression.
People not only like to talk, but they don’t like to be interrupted. Happiness in personal life depends quite largely upon our relations with others. How can they be harmonious if we’re always hammering away at our own opinions and preferences rather than listening to the other fellow’s?
The advice formerly given to children that they should be seen and not heard applies to doctors, reporters, salespeople, and many others. I wonder if physicians fully realize what a favorable impression they make upon their patients when they listen quietly, and as if they were really concerned, to the patient’s story.
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Comments
An excellent timeless and timely editorial from 1925. Listening as described here, can head off misunderstandings in conversations and talking over someone else which is rude and infuriating. This includes someone rudely concluding your point for you, usually erroneously, before giving you the chance to finish.