Are You Listening

Yesterday I boarded a flight to Philadelphia.  That is nothing new as when you live in Pittsburgh to fly most places you either fly to Philly or to Charlotte.  The good news was that Philly was my final destination.  What was very different about the flight was that my seat was one row from the rear of the plane.  Normally I would prefer not to sit that far back but this was only a short flight.  

As seems to happen more and more often this flight was full.  Since we were flying mid-day there were a number of business people with their briefcases, backpacks, and pretty much everything else they were allowed to carry on to the plane.  There was even a young mother carrying a fairly young child joining us in the back of the plane.  Sometimes when I see a young baby I get a bit anxious as flying is not yet normal for them and can be upsetting.  Actually, I wonder whether flying is normal for anyone even those that fly frequently.  

Our flight attendant got everyone boarded about fifteen minutes early.  This was no small feat.  Then she proceeded to make an announcement explaining why she was moving us along so quickly.  It turns out that yesterday was the equivalent of her Friday (it was Tuesday for me) and she had a date in Philadelphia.  The point being she wanted to get home and get ready.  She then proceeded to make all of the customary announcements that are required by law and airline safety rules.  I have heard these announcements thousands of times yet I still stop what I am doing to listen.  Perhaps because I typically sit in the front of the aircraft I listen as a means of being polite to the person that will be serving me for the duration of the flight.  It is also possible that I listen because I think it is prudent to do so.  Either way, I do listen.  

As I sat in the rear of the plane what I observed was that very few of my fellow passengers were listening at all.  I saw people playing with their stuff, wearing their headphones, and texting/reading email, but very few were listening.  At one point our flight attendant said in her Philadelphia accent “lissen.”  That did not seem to work.  When the plane was taxiing to the runway there were still a number of people that had to be told to remove their headphones, and turn off their electronic devices.  This included my seat mate who was asked by a pilot after repeated requests, to turn his phone off (it was ringing at the time).

I think that we are becoming a society that does not listen very much.  We have way too many ways to ignore the people around us and given that most of us carry our personal information and entertainment everywhere we go why would we listen to anyone at all?  The problem is that in failing to listen we are also failing to learn.  We are missing the world around us.  We are not seeing because we are not listening and when we don’t see we can’t be productive.  See what I am saying?

All year I have been hearing the same message over and over again.  I am listening and waiting to see what this is all about, and as a final note I hope that flight attendant had a great date since I was listening.  

Are you listening?  Listening requires action.  What are you going to do?  If you want to read more about listening Go Here  If you like this post please post a link on FaceBook or Twitter.  I would like to know if you are listening.