“Listen.” It’s a simple word. Six letters. Two syllables. So simple, yet so complicated. As the saying goes, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.” Clearly, we are not.
My dad was a handy guy. He could fix or build most anything. He learned how to do these things by listening. One day, he decided to install a shower in our home. He had to slither into a tight crawl space in the basement to run the water lines. Once he made his way in, I handed him the copper lines, the fittings, the solder, a torch and a hacksaw. The remaining job of this 10-year-old kid was to hold the flashlight so he could see. Dad turned the water off on one of the existing lines from a nearby valve. He then began cutting that line, using quick and steady strokes with the hacksaw. What he didn’t realize was that the back stroke of the hacksaw was cutting the water line below the one he was working on, which was not shut off.
I noticed this and said, “Dad, you are…”
He interrupted me, saying, “Give me a minute, Shaner, I almost got this.”
I said, “But, Dad, you are cutting the…”
He exclaimed, “I said give me a minute!”
So I gave him about 15 seconds of silence, and he cut right into that pipe. It started spraying him in the face in those tight quarters, and he used a few choice words as he worked his way out and sprinted — dripping wet — to the upstairs shut-off valve.
“Why didn’t you tell me I was cutting that pipe?” he asked, while toweling off.
“I tried,” I replied. “Twice — and then you told me to be quiet.” That was the end of the discussion.
On that day, Dad wasn’t listening. His mistake. I also messed up by not being more vocal to him. My mistake. We both learned.
I think of that story often when I catch myself in similar situations as a result of not fully listening. I rationalize my actions by stating I have to make hundreds of decisions every day, and if I debated each one, I would not get much done. That’s true, but some situations arise when I don’t listen, and I cut the proverbial water line, too.
An old proverb says we have two ears and one mouth so that we may listen twice as much as we speak. So, I keep trying to improve by focusing on this one simple task — listen.
Have a great week, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
