A longtime resident of Uxbridge, Ted Barris has written professionally for 40 years - for radio, television, magazines and newspapers. The "Barris Beat" column began in the 1950s when his father Alex wrote for the Globe and Mail. Ted continues the tradition of offering a positive view of his community. He has written 16 non-fiction books of Canadian history and teaches journalism at Centennial College in Toronto.
The lost art of listening
About a year ago, I was invited to speak to the Writers' Community of York Region. As the date of the talk approached - last Sunday, Dec. 9 - I began to prepare my presentation. Normally, for these kinds of talks, I rely on my collection of personal anecdotes, remembrances and war stories - literally and figuratively - to get me through the event. Then, I remembered why I had been invited.
“This is a group of writers,” the speaking convenor had said. “So they'll be interested in your research and writing… You might want to address the challenges of being a journalist and non-fiction writer.”
In other words, they wouldn't necessarily be interested in the content of my book, magazine and newspaper stories, but how the stories were originated and crafted. They would want to know how to search for stories, track down sources, verify facts and double-check them. They would be interested in how the stories were built, edited and published. And they would likely want me to offer views on marketing, promoting and selling ideas, as much as recounting them. All this meant that I had to invest a little more thought and preparation into the event, not just do the presentation by rote. In other words, I had to do some listening before I started talking.
It occurs to me that life lesson - listening before talking - has value beyond the art of writing.
The other night, on CBC Radio, I heard Carol Off interview Dr. Nawal El-Saadawi, an Egyptian author, sociologist and feminist. At great risk to her life, during the Arab Spring, she had joined the demonstrations at Tahrir Square in Cairo. She had protested alongside men against the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Thanks to her courage in the face of tear gas, bullets and tanks, the Mubarak regime had come tumbling down, opening the door to a new leader and constitution. In the interview, however, she lamented that Mohamed Morsi, the new president of Egypt, had given himself total control over the country's constitution, government policy and military, cancelling all democratic rights, especially (via sharia law, the moral code and religious law of Islam) those of women. Clearly, this was a case of the governing not listening to the governed.
I have to wonder whether some of those governing this country on Parliament Hill and Queen's Park have been reading President Morsi's play book. I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick and tired of the concept of prorogation. Every time a governing party - whether federal Conservative or provincial Liberal - begins to feel heat from the Opposition or a potential vote of non-confidence, it decides to pull the plug on the entire legislative process. I don't care whether it's Stephen Harper worried about fallout from his administration's handling of Afghan detainees, or Dalton McGuinty fearing a scandal over moving gas plants during an election, when a prime minister or premier prefers silence over dialogue, as an engaged and caring citizen I get the strong feeling that nobody is listening.
This week, the National Hockey League cancelled another 104 regular season games, bringing the number of cancelled games to 526, just less than half the 2012-2013 season. I thought it was interesting, last week, when the owners and the players met and nearly hammered out a deal - without Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr in the room - only to have the Commissioner later shoot down the informal talks. Is it the air in New York? Is it the distance between where the NHL and the NHLPA brass reside and where the rest of us lace on skates and pick up hockey sticks, that makes this whole lockout seem so ridiculous? Or is it just that nobody among the billionaire owners and millionaire players knows how to listen?
I note with some fascination, this week, that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to join the Twitter-verse. This week the Vatican launched @pontifex on which the Pope will begin to communicate with his flock via social media. I'm sure that will turn a lot of heads. But I wonder if it will turn his. No doubt, the Pontiff has uncorked an extraordinary means of communication between himself and more than 900,000 followers in eight Twitter languages (600,000 in English). Does the Pontiff realize, however, that Twitter is a two-way street? He has to read tweets as well as write them. That could make for a very interesting shift at the Vatican - listening as well as pontificating.
At the end of my talk to the Writers' Community of York Region, last Sunday, I asked a few of the writers attending the event whether they had found the session of any value. There were some lovely compliments. But I found the comment from one writer quite rewarding.
“Your talk was just what we needed,” he said, “words of inspiration, not dictation.”
For other Barris Beat columns go to www.tedbarris.com
