William Shakespeare left a legacy for all time in the literary world when he penned the famous “lend me your ears” line.
It can be found in the play Julius Caesar written by Shakespeare. “Friends, Romans, countryman, lend me your ears” is the first line of a speech delivered by Mark Anthony specifically in Act III, Scene II. The famous line is interpreted as a metaphorical statement wherein the speaker is putting emphasis for his listeners to pay attention to what he is driving at. Courteously, it is a speaker’s plea for his listeners to take heed of what he is saying as in “please listen.” In like manner, a quote with quite similar nature has it that, “listening is the beginning of understanding.”
In the process of communication, it is basic that two primary elements must always be present. First is the speaker, from whom the message emanates and secondly the listener, to whom the message is delivered. There can be no effective communication if either of the two is absent. In like manner, communication will be a futile process when either of the two fails to deliver the message well and that no one listened to receive what was delivered.
Learning is always a two-way process. The transfer of knowledge and information requires a host that will trigger the exchange in the person of a speaker, a teacher or an instructor. The exchange will not be successfully completed if the receiver fails to recognize and fully comprehend the information that was transmitted in the process. In such a case, there was really no transfer of knowledge that was expected to have transpired in the first place. Thus, the time to learn has been wasted.
At present, our world is tremendously going with a fast-paced transmission and communication exchange process. Categorically, there will be times when the transfer of information and knowledge fail because no one gives respect for the time to listen. Unfortunately, such a misgiving is the easiest way to court a disaster or an unwanted collateral damage. The same thing is true in reading written instructions, rendering careless thoughts about it can also to lead to something that is not acceptable by all means.
Life has ways in teaching us a lesson or two every day. For us to gain more of life, let us make sure that we give more time in listening and understanding the events that is happening around us. Whenever there are doubts, we can intently lend our ears rather than engage in useless talks. In doing so, we will come to learn more that as intent listeners we will be able to know and understand more of what we truly deserve. Once we get the right information, we gain knowledge and eventually we too can speak of wisdom to inspire others.
By: CARMELLET R. LALAS | TEACHER III | Bataan National High School | Balanga City, Bataan
