Lend a ear for a change

US_President Barack Obama took time out on Christmas Day to make a phone call to Corpsman Francis M Nicola, onboard guided-missile frigate USS Rentz, and pass on his holiday greetings.

At first, I just glanced over the press release when it crossed my desk and didn't really give it another thought but it popped back into my mind a little later and I realised what a genuinely nice thing it was to do.

Let's face it, it's a publicity stunt aimed at showing off how much of a 'People's President' he is. It will, no doubt, garner him both praise and at least one guaranteed vote three years from now but it was still a very nice thing to do.

Taking the time out to make someone else feel special cost the president nothing while it made the corpsman feel appreciated and worthwhile, taking the sting away from having to spend the holidays away working instead of with his family and loved ones. It's such a simple idea, it made me wonder why that sort of thing doesn't go on all the time.

Imagine if the head of a country's government actually bothered to pick up the phone every now and then, call some random person and have a little chat with them.

How amazing would it be if they genuinely bothered to show an interest in your average Joe's thoughts on what's going on in their country rather than relying on advisors, opinion polls and representatives who are far more interested in pushing their own agendas and political careers than actually representing the people that voted them in?

For that matter, it's not only the people who rule the world that can benefit from listening more closely to 'the little people' and to what's going on around them. We all can. It's something all of us should spend a little more time doing.

It's natural as individuals to be more concerned with the little part of the world that surrounds just us and, as such, we tend to only deal with problems that we're aware of and affect us personally. But, in doing so, we often close our eyes to other things we should take more notice of.

Not everyone speaks up when they have a problem and those problems invariably grow and manifest themselves in other ways. If we all took just a little time to ask the people around us how they're doing and if there's anything we can do to help, a lot of the smaller issues can be nipped in the bud before they turn into much bigger problems.

Work would be a more productive and enjoyable place if more bosses took time to talk to the people who work hard to put money in the company's coffers.

It's easy enough to say that a person is being paid to do their job but to take some time to make sure the people working for you feel as if they have a voice and that their needs are, at the very least, being genuinely considered, will inevitably lead to a happier work environment and make the people that work for you want to put that little bit extra into what they're doing; taking pride in doing the best they can rather than just doing the bare minimum to earn their pay cheque.

The same goes for all us parents out there. We're so busy bringing our children up the way we want them to be that we often lose sight of what they want to become. We have our rules and standards that we insist they follow and it can sometimes leave us so inflexible that we lose sight of the fact that each and every child is an individual with a personality and growing pains of their own that they need to deal with.

As grown-ups, we're 'boring, embarrassing, inflexible and out of date'.

As children they're 'young, immature and incapable of making well thought out and rational decisions for themselves'.

These preconceived ideas of each other mean that communication isn't always forthcoming in families and the more we don't communicate the bigger the divide grows.

If, as parents, we took a little time out every now and then to give our children free rein to discuss their issues with us, we might be able to create closer, more caring family environments.

Of course, that would also entail genuinely listening to what they have to say and accepting that they have an opinion even if we don't like what we hear.

We have to be willing to accept criticism and be willing to try and see things their way so that we can come up with solutions and compromises that suit everyone.

As a parent it can be hard to let go and allow the young to do or say something we're not happy with but if we're willing to show our children that we want to understand them and help them along their path as non-judgmentally as possible, they in turn will start to see us as people they can go to when they need help rather than trying to hide everything they get up to.

We were their age once and as much as we can try to raise our children to not make bad judgments they're going to do the exact same things we all did. So, it's better to have the kind of relationship where they can talk to you when they get in trouble and trust that you'll understand and help them, even if there are consequences to be paid later on.

Whether it's running the world, work, friends or family, opening up and being prepared to listen to others, the world would be a better place if we just took a few minutes away from ourselves every now and then and dedicated it to making life just that little bit better for others around us.

Hmmm ... I think I smell a New Year's resolution coming on...