The Hardest Of Work.

…en daarom moet ik zeg, dat het niet altijd makkelijk is om iedereen te begrijpen.

I am speaking Dutch everyday at the moment, as we happen to find ourselves in The Netherlands. (Yes, that Stena Sealink captain came to his senses in the end!)

I find it mind blowing to realise that, most of the time, even for English speakers like myself, the words being spoken around the world are incomprehensible to most other people.

English is the nearest thing there is to a “common world language”. But mostly people speak their mother tongue. And mostly that is a language which a fairly small minority of the worldwide population understand.

But even when we speak the lingo there is no guarantee that mutual comprehension will occur. Even among friends, and even among people who share a relatively similar world view. Considering how little of the time we manage to communicate well, it is remarkable how much we have managed to achieve together.

And what makes the difference, when we speak, comes to down to how well we engage the listener. That is creative work. And the difference when we listen comes down to whether or not we are really listening. Which is the work of empathy and patience.

Real communication is the hardest of work.

And the most rewarding when we manage to do it well.