Interpreting and Communications

Lately I have been listening to the political discussions concerning the new Supreme Court nominee. Some believe she maybe too much of a liberal, others too much of a conservative on how she interprets the US Constitution. A document written 200 years ago and still is "interpreted" different ways today! There are religious battles all the time over interpreting the Bible! Lawyers make their living over misunderstanding of the law.

Have you ever really thought about "communicating"? About what it takes to truly understand what someone has said or written?

I honestly do worry of what YOU (the reader) understands about what I have written in my little stories! (I have to admit though, I don’t loose much sleep over it!) But I do want YOU to really know Frannie, Waydene and Anita. I want you to understand what it is like to sit in the Stockman Café or the Schoolhouse Café. I want you to KNOW Orbin Stevens. Actually most of all I want sympathy for putting up with the warden all these years!

As a "trained feed salesman", I must carefully select my words to make sure the rancher understands what I say. I don’t want him thinking that my feed will cause his calves to gain 14 lbs. a day (well actually I do want him THINKING that. I just don’t want him trying to prove I said it in a court of law!)

Same thing goes for the warden. What is said and what is heard can be totally different! Let’s take these two statements:

"Your beauty would make time stand still."

"Your face could stop a clock."

Basically, those two sentences say the same thing, but let me tell ya, they get different results with the warden!

Another example, take last night for instance. The warden says, "Will you take out the trash?"
Naturally I said "Yes," but added, "in a minute."

Now the word, "minute" can be a specific measured amount of time or a relative one. The warden understood the specific, I meant the relative. This caused miscommunications! (And a fight)

And the other day while trying on some old dresses, the warden asks, "Does this dress make me look fat?"

Now you would think that after 33 years I wouldn’t even GO THERE, but being the good communicator that I am, I answered truthfully. "Not too bad."

What I meant, "It doesn’t fit you like it did when you were 22 years old."
What she heard, "My God woman, you’re as big as a barn!"

I mean WHY ask the question, if you don’t want the answer? But what the heck, our couch is a queen sized hide-a-bed anyway!

I sure hope you have understood what I meant.

Dennis