04 Aug Everyone Knows What a Horse Is
The first Polish language encyclopedia, Nowe Ateny, was published in 1746. It included definitions such as:
Horse: Everyone knows what a horse is.
I laughed out loud when I read this. I liked imagining the person tasked with writing this definition so many years ago, pondering what to include and then deciding, “Good grief, everyone knows what a horse is. Now, what is the next word I need to define?”
This reminded me how complex communication can be. Sometimes we hear a person talk about an experience that we relate to, and we think, “I know just what this person means.” But so often, their messages have more depth of meaning than we can appreciate from our own perspective. We have an opportunity to put down our own lens and make a deliberate choice to see things through their perspective.
This is the skill of accurate empathy. We make a guess about the person’s intended meaning and give the speaker an opportunity to tell us if we got it right. By showing that we are interested, we also encourage the person to share more.
Because after all, does everyone really know what a horse is? You may think a horse is a horse (of course, of course). But what if it talks? Then it’s the famous Mister Ed.