As journalists, we are trained to listen for important information and to question people until we find everything needed to relay the story to the public.

Sometimes in this search the most unlikely sources show us a new perspective and help to shine a light on the topic in a different way.

Life is not just endlessly interviewing people, but if people would take the time to listen to one another the benefits would be almost endless. We often get stuck in the idea that it is easiest to focus only on things that directly impact our own lives.

We ignore people who may seem unlikely to be beneficial to us and end up focusing on our own small group instead of looking at the bigger picture.

It is so easy to sit around and ignore people who might be helpful if we would just listen to what they have to say. People have different perspectives based on their personalities and life experiences on the way things should be done.

Recognizing differences is not enough. Utilizing the unique ways people behave and think to create an even better paper and campus could take an important part in helping everyone to benefit from the change.

It is why all Colleges are represented on the Workgroup Review Committee. However, for things to really change it is going to take more than just a diverse group of people sitting together and talking.

People can talk all day until they are blue in the face, but nothing is really accomplished until people begin to listen to one another and weigh the merits of each other’s viewpoints.  This is the only way we can work together to create change.

Change is not always easy and, as many people on this campus know, it can be quite frustrating.

The important thing is to make sure whether or not the results are what people want them to be, a variety of people’s voices are heard.

Usually there are more sides to a story than most people have time to listen to. However, we each need to make the effort to find more information on a topic than just the bare minimum.

Issues intertwine to make a bigger mess than any one person can deal with. It does not get better if we all try to talk over each other because we are convinced we know best.

All we need to do is take a deep breath, calm down and listen. Who knows, if people do this they might learn something.