“Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.” Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
When I read this I always note the duality that runs throughout. We are to speak AND listen. When we speak (implying that we are to make rational choices regarding WHEN to speak) we tell our story “quietly and clearly.” Lots of duality there. Which in turn reminds me of the duality of Wilson Mizner’s quote: “A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.”
Everyone has a story — Everyone. We are called to speak ours, and called to listen to others’. It is in speaking and listening that we connect our stories. The speaking and the listening are the thread and the needle that help us bind our scraps of cloth together to make this patchwork quilt we call humanity.
It occurs to me... 