Wednesday 2 May 2007

Do we hear what we want to hear?

My husband had a 'Potential' customer the other day. I say potential because I doubt she'll come back. A lady of East Asian or origin. She spoke with an accent aswel and spoke what we consider to be fast. So she made some enquiries and he asked to take down some contact details.
She said her name.
"Ling Chung?" He asked to confirm.
"No," she replied. "Angel."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Subhanallah it is very true we have in built tendencies to categorise things, people into their right place. They belong to this and it belongs to that! We have to stop ourselves from judging others as this is what we are exactly doing.

We need to avoid this judgmental attitude and presumptions that we develop as this is not the Islamic way. So many times I have seen people behave in the most appropriate manner towards others. (Not saying that Husband did in any way). It is also our expectations that then can cloud not only our hearing but our vision also.

My tip is not to presume the obvious. Only Allah knows what has been, what is and what will be. Only He knows what is in the hearts of others and their intentions.

It is very easy to fall prey to hearing what we want to hear. I did it only today!

Saabirah said...

That IS a funny story though.

Rosashe said...

The example youhave given is an innocent and funny one. But unfortunately, the same thing is the source of so many problem for ethnic minorities. Its the same problem Niqabis and Hijabis face, when people here think they can speak English, or they are not educated or in case of many tourists here, thinking hejabi=thief. I have had tourists clutch their bag from the other side of the traffic light as soon as they see me. And I have heard of som many sisters having gone through similar experiences. Its quite sad. I think 'presumptuousness' is a disease that is actually casuing a lot of the trouble in this world. Unfortunately, we are not doing enough to correct this.

Sheila