All the Stuff I Never Said

I do public speaking.  Have for over 40 years.  In my current setting I preach to a goodly number of folks about 26 of the 52 Sundays each year.  I say a lotta things...about a lotta things.  Religious things, political things, current-event things, wishful-thinking things.  A lotta things about a lotta things.

Whenever I preach...actually just before I preach...I say, "Might what I say, and what we hear, be...at least in part...the word of God for us this day."

I say that not to emphasize the "Word of God" thing...although I do believe that when someone (even me) addresses folk in a worship setting there is the possibility that something of the Word of God might be spoken and/or heard.  No, I say it because I want to emphasize the "what I say, and what we hear" thing.  I want to alert those who will be listening to me that some of what I say, they may not hear...and some of what they hear, I may not say!

Remember that old game where the first person whispers something in someone's ear...and that person then whispers what they heard into the next someone's ear...and that third person then whispers what they heard from the second person into a fourth person's ear...and on and on and on?
Sure you do.  And just as surely, you remember that what the final person says out loud is never...ever...what the first person  said to the second person.

People do not hear exactly what you say.  They just don't.  You say it...it gets filtered thru their "stuff" and it turns into something you didn't intend when you spoke the words.

You say it with your mouth...it gets to their ears and undergoes a translation into their understanding of the words that you used...which are interpreted one way by you, and another way by them.

I have been praised or blasted by folks following a sermon who thought they heard one thing, but it wasn't the one thing that I said...or intended to say.  I have learned over the years to keep my manuscript for almost all public talks I give...just in case of follow-up that a listener and I need to do in clarifying something I said and/or something that they heard.

Communication ain't easy!  In fact, it is hard work...on the part of the speaker and on the part of the listener.

BTW: Yelling at each other, instead of speaking with each other guarantees the "what I say and what we hear" thing will go wrong.  Guarantees it.

So, I say a lotta things about a lotta things...but not always do I say some things you think I said.

Did that guy really say that?