One of the most important part of language, but least discussed, is body language. Body language is the key to seeing ones personality before they ever say a word. Movement and expression involve a persons feeling and emotion into his/her statement whether they mean to or not. In anger, fear, sadness or happiness, body language is used in every condition, perhaps even more than spoken words.
Facial expressions are a perfect example of body language. Every morning when I drive to college I get stuck in morning traffic. It is frustrating for everyone; no matter if you are a passive person or an aggressive person. If a red light stops you and you only have ten minutes to get to work the situation can make you a bit livid.
As I look at the people around me, I can see their faces burning with fury as they as they hit the steering wheel. Others have looks of desperation, as if to tell me that this single light could be the one to get them fired for being late. The rest of the faces are calm and collective. These faces tell me that they have accepted the light and do not care. Then it happens! Miles down the road, the traffic light far behind us, a car cuts one of the pacifist faces off.
The car slows down to turn down the upcoming road. The pacifists body language does a complete metamorphoses. He immediately grinds his teeth together. His hands grip the wheel so tightly his fingers turn pale white. Even though I cannot hear his words, I know he is cursing by the violent motion of his fist in the air. He proceeds to shake his fist only now his middle finger is raised.
This is the boldest and most direct form of body language called Shooting the Bird. Hostility and anger are sometimes expressed more vividly using body language. However, not all body language is used in anger. A form of body language that is not used in anger is the wink.
The winks can be casual blink or a sexy twinkle of the eye. It can, at times, be very hard to distinguish the difference. Like words, body language can be interpreted many ways. If a member of the opposite sex winks at you, it can be difficult to determine whether it was just a friendly gesture or something more. While I was at work a similar event happened to me.
I work at Medical Center East Hospital in the Emergency Room. It is a fast paced atmosphere filled with screaming patients, running nurses and doctors barking orders left and right. Most of the time we are so busy we barely say two words to each other. We rely on our body language to express ourselves everyday. Whether it is a roll of the eyes at an annoying patient or gritting our teeth because we are so swamped with patients. So, when a fellow employee winked at me I thought nothing of it.
I winked back at her and went back to my normal routine. We continued to do this every time we saw each other. An exchange of winks that neither of us thought of doing anyone harm. Yet, the next day I returned to work she told me that the rest of the staff thought there was something going on between us. I told her that we should give them something to talk about.
She agreed. We not only winked at each other, but blew kisses as well. The entire day we laughed together at the naivety our fellow employees. None of them had asked us whether or not anything was going on between us. The let our casual winks lead them to believe that it was true. We also congratulated each other on the success of our charade.
Now was the part we both knew would be the funniest. We called everyone to the desk and told them the truth. Even the doctors got a kick out of it. Since we were all friends, we laughed about it and went back to work.
However the situation could have gone astray. Body language can get you into trouble in certain situations. For instance, playing poker with friends can be quite tricky if you cannot control your facial expressions. Not thinking about your body language when you go out with your girlfriend is another. Especially when a nice looking girl walks by and you happen to have an approving look on your face. Yet, body language can have a peaceful meaning as well.
A hug of a loved one is warm and calming when times are troubled. Thumbs up from your dad when you have done something right can be as comforting as him saying job we done. Body language can mean so much more than just saying what you want to say because you are showing it. In conclusion, body language is used everyday. Whether it is a wave goodbye or hello, we use it to express our feelings without saying a thing.
