Why is LISTENING so difficult?

Being human necessitates communication with others (absent disorder or pathology). What I continue to struggle with is others' lack of understanding that true communication is something that involves give and take, multi-directional exchange of thoughts, feelings and ideas, and a tacit understanding that the other party will evaluate your input by putting forward some effort of thought. In my daily life I, like most of you, attempt to have meaningful conversations with those around me. I take the time to listen to what the other person is saying (most all of the time) and attempt to to put togehter a thoughtful response given their input. I expext the same from others who are "listening" during a conversation with me. I expect them to remeber what I just told them, or if the other party is particularly close to me I expect they will have a memory and understanding of most of our prior conversations. I cannot describe the intense feelings I experience when I speak to someone, be it family, classmate or friend, who cannot or will not make the effort to mentally process a conversation we have shared and make meaningful efforts to have a quality interaction. My point is that so many people do not listen -they hear so that they can respond. They do not process but rather prepare to expell. So many of us are not in the least bit interested in what the other person has to say, let alone give it any real thought. No, we are simply interested in our own interests. This could be extended to people who may actually listen but choose to ignore out of hand the information presented to them. I could go on and on but you get the idea. Stay tuned for my next bitch session when I complain about people who choose not to think.