This summer we attended the wedding of one of our nieces. She is a devout Christian, and she met her husband on a Christian dating website.
It was a Baptist wedding, and during the ceremony she raised both her arms in an upward motion, and her palms faced upward. She was singing praise, and her arms remained outstretched in front of her. The groom stood in front of her. His arms remained down.
I had never seen this arm motion during a wedding ceremony. I took her arm signals to be her genuine expression of her devotion to God, and a display of joy on her wedding day.
I was surprised by how my emotions seemed to rise with her actions. This is the snapshot of her wedding that is now lodged in my brain.
Later in time I pondered our human need to add hand and arm expressions to our communications. Some people use their hands more frequently than others. Usually this is a sign of emphasis or raised emotions. Just to name a few, we have the victory and peace sign, the middle finger raised in anger, the military salute, and the high five. And let us not forget the praying hands.
Many seem to be a signal of power or subservience, and all appear to me to be more powerful than words. They are rooted deep within us, and often they are instinctive reactions to the people and events around us.
These thoughts were brought back to me today while I was walking down a hall at school. A young man, a co-worker, was walking toward me, and he raised his hand into a high five position.
My first thought was of a student who has frequently raised his hand into a high five position, and then jokingly withdrawn it as I was about to make hand contact. I’ve learned to just smile at this student, and I no longer reciprocate his action.
As my co-worker approached, I had the thought: Is this a joke? I decided to give him the benefit of my doubt, so I raised my hand up high and lightly slapped his hand. He is seriously tall, so I had to stretch. He smiled, and we passed one another.
I could feel my emotions lifting up from our simple interaction. Words were not necessary in this brief show of support.
movingforwardslowly 