Communicating, With and Without Sound

  

My son was quite willing to give me a video of one of his favorite television series, Community.  I had never heard of the television show, Community, so the impact of this assignment was quite intense.  The episode that I watched was the show’s pilot.  Initially, when I watched the episode without sound, I believed that I knew exactly what was happening.  The show’s plot was easy to follow.  The problem, obviously, was that my interpretation of what was happening (without sound) was totally different from the show’s writers. 

I made quite a few assumptions, none of which were correct.  First of all, I had determined that Jeff, Pierce, and Shirley were teachers at the school; they were older and dressed professionally.  When they were sitting at a table with younger students, I made the assumption that the teachers were helping their students.  However, all of the individuals, who joined together in a study group, were students.  Some of the older individual had been in school previously, but for whatever reason, they were all students at this college. 

At one point, Jeff (a suspended lawyer who lied about having a college degree) went into Dunkin’s office.  Dunkin was sitting behind a desk in his office, and he obviously knew Jeff.  I supposed that they were two teachers talking.  Instead, Jeff actually represented Dunkin in a law case, and he wanted Dunkin’s assistance in passing college.  

It was, however, obvious that Jeff was interested in Britta (Brit), who was a 28 year old in his Spanish class.   As I watched the show without sound, I was unaware that Brit and Jeff knew each other; I thought they were meeting for the first time.    In addition, it was interesting to watch the characters interact in their study group, seated around a long table; of course, I was not even aware that they were all students.

It went much further, however.  I had defined each of the additional study group members.  For instance, Annie gave the appearance of being quiet and a “good” girl; instead Troy knew her when, in high school, she was hooked on pills and had to drop out (that was a shocker).  In addition, Pierce (Caucasian) was interested in Shirley (African American); I actually thought Pierce was reprimanding her at one point, instead the exact opposite was the case. There were numerous other assumptions, but it is safe to say that none of them were correct either. 

Since I did not know If my assumptions would have been correct if I had watched a show that I knew well, I decided to try it out.  I had refused to watch “Two and a Half Men” once they killed off Charlie Sheen; sorry, but I thought it was ridiculous.  In spite of this, I was familiar enough with the show to have an idea of the overall plot.  I watched the initial fifteen minutes without the sound and the remaining fifteen minutes with the sound.  Indeed, it was easier to obtain a sense of the plot, but the specifics were missing.  I missed some simple, minute details without the sound. 

As a result, I have begun to realize the impact of listening, which is vital to the communication.   I often make the mistake of hearing what I expect or hearing specific parts of discussion.  For me, the “aha” moment goes back to diversity and the idea of not pre-judging people before I have all of the facts.  Before the “older” students began to communicate, I had judged them based on their age and their attire.  This was an eye-opening experience!