listening and touching essay

In class for our second semester we had leaned about how people listen and how people touch echother. Overall we had learned that in America people have a hard problem listening to eachother, instead of just speaking about themselves. We also learned that often in America people cant touch eachother in any way because people think of it as a sexual touch. By practicing these situations and viewing books and movies we have gained a more in depth aspect of these ideas.

First we started class with the active listening unit. It started with Andy explaining to us how whenever something is said by a person the is allways a goal, or a motivation behind it that has to do with the person speaking. At first i didnt unsderstand the whole idea of having a goal, for every statement, but its true in the end. No matter what you say you are trying to question something, learn something, point something out, and many other things. While doing this i thought of the concept that whenever someone shares an event, or experience to another person, the other person allways has to say something back thats better. It almost as if its a competition. When i questioned why this happens the only thing i could think of was that its just human nature. Humans allways want to be better than eachother, and mostly dont wanna be the same. Thats the great thing about America, everyone is different, and everyone strives to be better than everyone around them.

While exploring conversations we were given a list of 10 different ways that people pretend they care but they dont. While looking at these things myslef along with my other classmates automatically connected with it and recognized these things. I saw them and i knew i had doone some of them, and had some done to me. So as class we tried to learn how to change this. Overall we came up with the fact that we just have to listen to eacher and show some empathy while we talk. Its almost like when you see an interviewer interview someone. They keep asking questions to get to the deeper point.

As our second unit we did the touching unit. We learned about how people touch eachother, and dont like being touched. As a class we used the trains as an example. In the trains people often accidentally touch people, and often times the person being touched acts as if they were offended from the touch. We came up with the fact that in America people dont like being touched unless its being done in a professional or sexual manner with a loved one. We watched a movie about massages. It spoke about how massages can be done sensually without any type of sexual referance at all. It also explained how often men take advantage of massages and use it for sexual pleasure. They interviewed a female masseuse, and asked her about her job. She acted as if she were traumatized from it. We had come to the conclusion based on hints she had given, that she had performed sexual acts to get the money faster and easier. She hated her job because of that. In the end what we were really trying to learn was if people can touch without it allways being sexual.

In conclusion i think i had learned alot from thewse to quick units. I learned better conversation skills. With these skills I can become a active listener in conversations, and in part people will listen to me. With the whole touching idea i learned from it, but it is still a little unclear. I think touching doesnt only have to be sexual but, only if its being done by someone you want to touch you, or someone you trust, and are close with. In the end the insight i learned can help me learn aabout other people and not only myself.