Back in high school, I participated in a few church missions trip with some members from my church. One particular year, a group of us traveled to a university in Taiwan to set up an English-teaching summer camp. My roommate (not by choice) at this three-week program disliked wearing headphones when he was watching movies or playing music on his laptop. When I finally asked why he didn’t wear headphones, he replied that they were uncomfortable and would impair his future hearing so he didn’t want to wear them more than he had to. I tried to reason with him, but he still insisted on the no headphone policy. I remained patient with him, knowing that we would be setting a very bad example for the students if we were visibly upset. I finally realized that since we would only room together for a few more weeks, it wasn’t worth it to be mad the whole time. We agreed that if he wanted to watch movies or listen to music, I would do my work somewhere else, but when I was sleeping, he agreed to turn the noise level down and use headphones. In the end, we turned out to be pretty close friends which probably would not have happened if I had lashed out at him in the beginning. I learned that all conflicts can be resolved, not by hostile demands, but through amiable communication.
Learning to compromise
By thecoastisclear - Posted on March 3rd, 2008
That's a valuable lesson to be learned. That's very respectable to reach a compromise rather than lash our physically or be angry. You're setting a great example for the children.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ashshepherd16
It's a valuable lesson indeed - sad that he hadn't learned it by then! It should not be a big deal for a mature person (I assume he was in his late teens... old enough that he should be mature) to use headphones out of respect for other wishes. It's not like using headphones for three weeks would impair his hearing, unless he listens at a very loud volume, and many types of headphones are quite comfortable once you get used to them (most of the padded ones, anyway).
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Please see my recent blog post, "Genocide and Student Activism": http://www.progressiveu.org/041447-genocide-and-student-activism