Listening is an action

As I prepare for Thursday night's college-age gathering I have been thinking about who we listen to, what we listen to, and how much influence those things have over us. I am becoming more and more convinced that we take what we hear to be the truth with minimal checking of the facts of what we heard.

Last week I came home to find a warning posted on my front door from the Animal Control department of our city. Apparently the new tenants in the rental behind us had called Animal Control because our dog was outside and it was cold and raining. So a very dutiful officer came to our house to 'investigate'. I had the girls at swimming lessons and Julie was delayed at an appointment - hence Ollie was running around the back garden in the rain - as he is want to do. Anyhoo, the officer takes a couple of photos and writes a warning stating that he was informed that we keep the dog out 24/7 and that this is not appropriate for the weather.

So the officer heard one report, didn't check any facts and jumped to some very serious conclusions. I went to Animal Control the next day to set the record straight but apparently my insistence that the facts be corrected to reflect the truth was determined to be 'nit-picking' by the officer and his supervisor.

So what is my point? Well, we are influenced by what we hear. The officer was apparently told that the dog was outside 24/7 and was outside in the rain at the time of the call. When he arrived at our house and found Ollie outside he assumed the information was correct - but his mindset was established from the initial call - we were bad owners because we kept our dog outside.

The simple truth was that the only time Ollie had been out that day was from 3:30-7:30pm - during which time the officer visited. He doesn't stay out 24/7. But the facts didn't matter. The initial hearing set the tone for how that officer views me and how I treat my dog.

What have you heard about someone that has set your mind thinking along one path about that person only for you to later learn more information which actually dismisses your original thoughts? Were you man enough to admit your mistake or did you just persevere with your misguided intention?

I think we need to consider how we respond to the things that we hear and the people who speak into our lives. Do we weigh up the information, check the facts and act with knowledge or do we jump in with both feet at the first thing we hear, only to regret it and have to spend time mending fences?