Why Do People Generally Hear What They Are Listening For

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, she wrote, “People generally see what they are looking for and hear what they are listening for.” This quote can be taken many different ways and interpreted from many different viewpoints, that is one of the reasons in which makes Harper Lee’s writing so great. Every way that you can look at this quote you can learn an important lesson in life, many of which can apply to your own life. One thing that you can take away from this quote is that people often search for the bad in one another. Often we are too quick to judge other people, and it normally starts when you first meet them. You begin to make opinions about them based on what they wear, how they look, and who they’re with; you start to compare yourself to them and point out all of their flaws rather than recognizing the desirable traits they portray. Just as Lee said, you see what you look for, so naturally, you would be able to find plenty of quirks in everyone that you meet, causing you to dwell on their negative characteristics. This shows that if you are always sitting back and waiting to find that one thing about someone the is wrong, more often than not, you will find it.

There is always going to be people in your life who you know are going to point out every little thing you do that’s wrong. Often times, people like that can make you self-conscious and begin to doubt who you are, but you have to shake off what they say and be confident. Nevertheless, those people will never go away, no matter how hard you try to ignore them, it is just part of life. Thus, whenever you are dealing with someone like that just remember that there is nothing you can do that will please them, and you can only please