Communication – Elaina's Blog

Misunderstanding is a common thing in our lives; some causes of it include assumptions, the lack of communication and listening, and vague languages. Everyone is different. Therefore, it is hard to understand what other people mean, and it is even harder to guess another’s mind. The results of it can vary from conflicts to reconciliation, depending on the communication after the misunderstanding.

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“Our mind is COMPLICATED.”

Photo by David Matos on Unsplash

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Misunderstanding bothers me since I was a child, and it’s still continuing now. It was seven years from now, when me and my best friend had the first argument. I got a really low grade for an exam, and it was very upsetting. Noticing my odd behaviors, my friend asked me what happened, and I told her about the grade. I ask her to keep it a secret.

A day after that, I saw her laughing and chatting with another classmate. I immediately connect it to the grade I got, and assume that she betrayed me. Without confirming with her, I gave her the silent treatment.

A few weeks later, she wrote me a letter asking what happened, and I figured out that it was all my misunderstanding. Rejecting communication is a very immature decision, because friendship is a thing between two people, and you can’t make a decision by yourself.

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The above example of myself isn’t a big deal, but in the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, a misunderstanding leads to a conflict.

Rebecca, a science journalist, worked with Deborah, the daughter of Henrietta Lacks, to figure out Henrietta’s life. Near the end of the book, they didn’t only find the story of Henrietta Lacks, but also the story of Deborah’s sister, Elsie.

When they figured out that doctors said Elsie has idiocy, Deborah said she didn’t want others to know about it. As Rebecca promised that she won’t, she smiled.

Not because I thought it was funny, but because I thought it was sweet that she was protective of her sister” (283).

This is where the misunderstanding happens. Deborah thought that Rebecca was lying because she was smiling, and Deborah assumed that she wasn’t taking it seriously.

For the first time since we met, I lost my patience with Deborah” (283).

The trust between those two broke. Deborah is a very sensitive person, and she viewed that smile as a sign of lying. While Rebecca, who has been through all those untrusting moments, finally breaks out.

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Trust and communication are some things essential for a relationship to last. It might hurt to trust someone and be betrayed, and it is also hard to trust someone if you have been hurt. This is when communication comes in handy. It might be complicated, but trust me, the result might surprise you!

Two different places, two different schools, two different groups of students. People work together, no matter where they are, no matter who they are. What brings them together is a desire of finishing a common goal. To be successful, some people plan and others create. This is a method of solving problem that is totally different from working individually, and this is what I experienced throughout the unit.

Let’s view teamwork as rowing. Quad Scull is always faster than Single Scull since four is more than one, and more people mean that more force are produced to move the boat forward faster. But when people’s opinion oppose, when some want to go right and some want to go left, they can’t move forward. In this case, Single Scull will be faster than Quad Scull.

Teamwork = Rowing

Photo by Sayan Nath on Unsplash (License)

This concept also apply for this project. Me and my partner in our school (Amelie) , Kaohsiung American School, worked with two students in Bio-Med Science Academy, a school located in Ohio, United State. Our goal is to create a short movie based on a novel, and communication was the most challenging part of the movie project for me.

Amelie and I chose to create a document to organize all the works we’ve done, and shared it with our partners in United State. As we finished every task, we sent a mail to our partners and notice them to give comments. But this turns out not working. Our partners didn’t give us any comments when they were suppose to, and this slow down our pace of finishing the movie project. Here is the document and some emails we sent.

The Document.

Email Sent.

Of course, we cannot just wait and do nothing if they didn’t reply. Instead, we decided to send an email to their teacher, Mr. Wolfe, to inform him about this problem, and ask him to remind our partners to give us comments. This is another way of communication, not directly to who we want to talk to, but to their leader, to their teacher. The email reminds me of a quote from an english composer, who said:

“Communication works for those who work at it!”

I was really inspired by this quote, because it is what I’ve experienced. Communication is really important, it is the bridge between people, the key in teamwork, the road to success, but it only functions when someone is willing to take a step, to reach forward and start to communicate. After the email, our partners started giving us feedback and suggestions.

To be successful in a team, communication is needed. When no one talks, you need to be the risk taker, and start the conversation. Applying this concept back to the rowing team, someone should tell his/her teammates that he want to go to the right, and give them the evidence of why they should follow. If this doesn’t work, try another way! All you need is that passion of never giving up, you’re able to communicate with whoever you think is hard to communicate with.

Key = Communication

Photo by geralt on Pixabay (License)

Tag: Communication

Misunderstanding, Trust, and Communication

“Communication works for those who work at it.”