A Listener

What was the first thing that crosses your mind when you read the title above?? Mine is a socket. What is this socket anyway?? Of course it is not about socket wrench, eye socket, or an electrical socket, but an internet socket one. Well, to put it simple, I can say that a socket is like a mouth that can talk (send message) and an ear that can hear (receive message) between two programs in an IP based network (e.g.: the Internet). Don't put your hope to high or run away when you read this Internet socket, because I won't write about this particular socket, but something really different, at the same time have something common too.

So.. what is the relation between listener and a socket?? Well, there is a term in computer network that a socket which has a function to listen and ready accept every connection intended for that socket is called a listener socket. This is a lousy definition, but don't argue with me about this cause I won't write about this topic anyway. Okay now.. this particular function is often called listening, the same term for our ear function, isn't it?? But it is a voice that is listened by our ear. A socket too can drop the connection that has been built before, the same as the ear can be closed so that any voice will not reach it. See the similarities now?? But, once again, I won't write about socket :D

Almost every human on this earth have the ear to listen every voice in this world. And recently I have two questions about this particular function. The questions are "When do you close you ear??", "When do you choose not to listen??"

A socket drop connection after it has received packet data from the other side. Well.. to build a connection, the program that wants to initiate the communication must send a message first to the other program. The causes for the dropping are various, whether the sender is banned, the data is invalid, the other side closes the connection, or anything else. You can see that every connection may be dropped after there is one message listened by the socket. Mark the word after here.

So how about our life with the ear?? We often close it even before the reached it right?? Well.. I have seen so many times, the talking continued on and on without anybody listened. And many of the eyes sent messages to stop the talking. Isn't it kind of sad thing, that the messages of hatred were permeated, even before the talking started?? So then what is the function of the ear, if not to listen??

I guess in this time when the world filled with so many voices, it is not strange anymore that we want to shut our ears off to some voices that we don't want to hear. I think this isn't wrong, but judging before listening is. We have a mouth and two ears, so it is natural that talking and listening become our need. When we are talking, we give a privilege to somebody to listen, otherwise when somebody is talking to us, that certain somebody gives us privilege to listen. I think this privilege is priceless, even when a son gave it to his father, a daughter to her mother, a brother to his sister, a student to the teacher, a stranger to a stranger. But sometimes our judge hammer knocks this privilege down before it is given to us.

I realized that I had been playing this hammer ruthlessly. The more I felt that I despised this kind of person, the more I realized that I had become this kind person. The more I did it, the more I realized it, the more reasons I had to not do it again in the future. When I tried it, I got more than I had imagined, but it didn't matter whether it was more sadness or more happiness. And know this, sometime when somebody is talking to you, that somebody maybe just want you to listen, not to judge or evaluate anything. So lending our ears to listen doesn't seem hard, does it??

So let's keep an open mind with a listening heart and ears to listen more. Because I really believe when we listen, we get something as well we give something. And maybe we could really safe a life just with listening, who knows right?? Oh anyway.. if you have someone that you can talk to, someone that would listen to you no matter what, cherish it. It is one of the God greatest gifts for us in this world.

Side note:
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