"Sometimes you hear, but you don't listen"

"Sometimes you hear, but you don't listen", I've heard this phrase from different persons; from teachers, classmates and friends. But there's this crazy thought that popped into my mind, which, in a way, contradicts that phrase.

Although I agree that to hear is just to literally use your hearing organ to make something out of the sounds you hear (in a less complex way to say it, you only listen to the words alone), and to listen is to make something out of the words you hear---to interpret it in your own perspective and to listen to it with the ear of your heart.

Yesterday, I've got a letter from a close friend. It was a letter a person would rarely get so I guess I'm lucky enough to receive one. The letter talks about the "realities" in this world, real feelings, real experiences and real people. There isn't anything special about the letter if you look at it in a glance but once you look through the thought of the words itself, you'll see yourself standing in front of a portal. A portal that would lead you to the world of realizations.

I have had my fair share of that world and now I realized something. ;-) Sometimes even if we think we listened carefully to each word and each detail, a friend is telling you, you'll find yourself realizing that you really didn't listen well because you see, to listen is to understand.

While most people get the notion that to understand is to comfort a confidante and to show him/her you care, I know in my heart that to understand is to be able to put yourself in your confidant's shoes, to feel her aches and to try to surpass her ordeals.

Listening alone is not enough because there's a dire need for understanding, too....

Understanding beyond your limit.