My dear brother, Gar, just sent his beautiful Giftivism experience. You might enjoy hearing this example of the power of listening from the heart:
Within moments of my getting seated in a pick up truck, while hitch hiking along the southern California coast in the early seventies, the driver angrily stated that he worked in the oil industry and that he hated environmentalists! My long hair, beard, overalls, and embroidered shirt, (the garb of the “hippies”) seemed to be the trigger for his rage. I was not surprised by the verbal attack as I’d often been on the receiving end of animosity, because my attire and appearance was by itself, in those days, a challenge to the status quo.

He went on to say at great length, that his anger towards environmentalists was because they were working to bring about regulations that would impair his business from fairly competing in a global market. This competition was with companies who were not required to implement the expensive pollution control measures that his and other American companies were required to implement. For quite a while he ranted on while I listened to him.

He had calmed greatly by the time he was finished. Because I had listened carefully and was able to see some validity in his concerns, I was able to comment sympathetically regarding many of the details of his concerns. After recognizing and respecting his concerns, I then went on to express my views of the dangers to the environment and human health posed not only by oil companies but by many of our modern industries. I spoke for a time in this vein and he in his turn really listened to me.

He then really surprised me by quietly stating that he too was deeply concerned about the obvious harm caused by his and other industries. He talked of how much he loved his children and that he wanted them to grow up healthfully and knowing the beauty of the world…a world not despoiled by pollutants. He spoke of his confusion of not knowing what to do as he felt his livelihood and his family’s well being was threatened by the burdensome costs of the emerging regulations.

We then talked amiably of this and other topics for the remainder of our time together. We parted with mutual feelings of respect and appreciation.

It seems that listening carefully and respectfully with a heart of affection can have quite the transformational effect. This affection naturally arises when one perceives the truth that regardless of our outward differences, we are in fact all made of the same stuff and substance and that our well-being is inter-twined.