I am still learning

Michael Angelo at the very old age said “ I am still learning “  So do I 

It was 31 years ago. For the first time I taught accounting for senior high school student. I was young and unexperienced as teacher at that time. In the class there were  25 students. It was easy because I had confidence that I knew accounting. I taught diligently and clearly at that time. Most of the students got a good grade, but one student kept got 2 out of 10. 

I asked him “ Do you understand when I teach you “ He looked at me with a confused face. 
He yelled at me “ what “ I was angry then I stared at him “ Why you always get a bad grade ? If you don’t understand you can ask me “ 
He looked at me, his face showed he was frustrated to deal with me. 
I said “ If you never tell me whether you understand or not. I can not help you “ 
I left him. 
I was sad and angry. Basically I don’t care if people hate me, but I hate to be misunderstood. 

I shared the problem with other teachers and one teacher told me. “ Ibu Lina that boy has hearing problem. He needs his hearing aids” 
I said “ But he could understand when I talk to him “ 
“ Yes .. if  you speak slowly and you face him because he actually read your lips “ 

Most of the teaching time I had to write on the board and of course he couldn’t hear my explanation he couldn’t read my lips

Suddenly I felt guilty that I couldn’t transfer my knowledge to him, not because he is stupid but because I couldn’t  understand his needs, I  assumed he could understand, I assumed he was lazy, I assumed he could listen well. I assumed he ignored me. It happened because of bad communication. 

I put effort to draw with colorful pens the accounting process from journal to the income statements in a big piece of paper. 

I told him “ Please study this paper all the explanation is here” after that he got the best grade. 

He graduated from high school and one day he found me on Facebook. He told me he took Master degree in Accounting 😍😍

Communication is a bridge to understand someone and to be understood. Communication  only works when both side in the same pages. 
Communication is a skill that we need to practice, because we communicate with others since we were born to the end of our life 

In my life I meet many people with different back ground, different styles, different characters... Communication with them is a big challenge. 

I am still learning now, because people changes based on aging, wisdom and experiences. 
How about you ?? 

Jakarta 29 Jan 2020 
*Lina Kartasasmita**

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