The winter in Chicago this year has been great not a lot of snow and when it does snow it’s over the weekend and by Monday it’s gone. Today around 2pm it started to rain and that turned into hail and now its snow and as I’ve sat here at home I’ve heard all the different sounds it brought with it. I focused on what the sounds were like and why they sounded that way. How hail hit the window differently from rain and how snow creates slush on the sidewalks and road. I went to the store and listened to how the weather affected people’s moods and interactions with each other. I heard people speaking in a rushed tone most likely wanting to get home before it got worse outside. I heard people dragging their feet as if the rain weighed on them heavily. Then I heard a mother yell at her children and she was telling them “STOP LISTENING RIGHT NOW! JUST STOP IT!” That stopped me in my tracks and I wanted to see what was going on that would make her say such a silly thing. So I go over to the next aisle and there she is rushing and fumbling obviously not having a good day. The youngest child was sitting in the cart and the older one was walking in circles around the shopping cart. Then she repeated what she had said and I couldn’t make out why she was saying that and from the looks of it neither did the kids.
I can only imagine what her day may have been for her to not realize what she was saying or there are others issues that I’m unaware of but regardless of it all she was not listening to herself. When we think about different ways to communicate and participate in Peace sometimes listening is left out of the equation. Usually we donate money or physically involve ourselves in an action of some sorts but when do we think about just listening? Counselors and therapist have to master the art of active listening because if they don’t they won’t be able to help their client the best way they can. At work we have to listen to what needs to get done and take direction that is usually verbal. In a relationship between two people if you can’t listen to each other then you’re going to have some hard times.
Many times I found myself sitting with a “gang” leader for hours and I would ask them key questions or we would be talking about how to settle some issues. I would sit there and let them go on and on and listen for their emotions and their personal concerns. Sometimes we would be in their house and I would listen to their interaction with their family if they were their or listen to their reaction when I would refer to a picture of their children. All of that would give me an inside to their Peace and a slight change of tone in their voice would speak volumes of who they are as a person. My ability to create some of the Peace on the streets has been due to that listening I did in those conversations.
When I was homeless I would sit for hours in the park that I slept in, thankfully it was summer time, and I would just sit there listening to all the sounds around me. I was waiting to hear Gods voice and as I got older I realized that all the sounds of children playing and laughing the birds the wind all of it was Him speaking to just not me but to the world.
For many years I bumped heads with my Father and spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to win an argument against him. Then one day I just let him go on about everything and I truly began to listen to what he was saying. I’ve learned a lot from him but also about him that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned if I didn’t pause to listen. These days if we were to argue it has to be because I’m out looking for an argument with him simply because I listen to him now and know where he is coming from in other words I understand him now. That is peacefully for me because I’m not fighting with him anymore and that creates Peace for my Mother all because I chose to listen to him. Doesn’t mean I am agreeing with every single word he says but I am acknowledging his voice. What would happen if governments took that approach and acknowledged everyone’s voice as an equal?
When we talk about Peace there are many ways to go about it, physical action, talking, listening, being present, financial, prayer, voting, etc… there are many ways to create Peace but only you can create that Peace!
Sit back and listen to yourself, are you at Peace?
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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