The word gesture dates back to the 15th century, but its origins are much deeper. An early experience with the concept was to read that a raised, open hand demonstrated that it carried no weapons. The concept of gestures is complex in meaning and simple in execution. They can be casual, intimate, meaningful, false, studied, and sometimes missed.
Successful gesture requires recognition. They are acts of communication. I am not sure if they can be solitary. Can you make a gesture to yourself? People often say that they are treating themselves or punishing themselves. Perhaps suicide is the ultimate internal gesture, but perhaps it too is a gesture to others.
Recognition is subjective. One message can be sent and another received. Communication of gesture is a risky process.
Do people reflect upon the gestures that they have made in their lives? Perhaps that is only true if they reflect, but I believe that everyone lives, in part, through memory and memories. I wonder which gestures have been most important in my life.
Sometimes I need to be told that I have made a gesture or that one has been made to me. Sometimes it isn’t important that I know because the gesture has already been communicated. I’m not good at a study of my own gestures. I sometimes miss those that have been made towards me.
In meetings, I used to take off my glasses and clean them before responding. It is a studied gesture that felt right at the time. When I am told that it is studied, I was genuinely surprised. I shouldn’t be. Can a gesture be studied if it is unconscious or only partially conscious? Upon reflection I think that cleaning my glasses was a gesture that communicated that I wished to be clear. Maybe I was just buying time.
I had that habit of rolling a piece of chalk between my hands and listening to the way that it clicked against my rings. It was a strategic, classroom pause while I let a question sink in. The chalk rolling was instinctive. Perhaps there is such a thing as an instinctive gesture that is different from covering your head if you are about to be hit; different from instinctive bodily response.
Animals are far more adroit at communicating through gesture. In a dispute between many mammals, a show of surrender is enough. But show your neck to a shark and it is more an invitation than a withdrawal. Run from a predator and you will be ended. If one stands one’s ground in these circumstances, survival is more likely. Fight or flight is hardwired into us all and is best expressed through gesture.
Unconscious gestures seem to be an internal strategy. They may be a more comprehensive expression of who a person is. A more encompassing view of the totality of a human being may be their gestures. Maybe the aphorism “actions speak louder than words” is meant to include gestures. Is there a hierarchy to them? It seems like there would be, but I am not sure what it is. I am not at all sure that studied gestures rise above the gravity of unconscious gestures.
Is there a significant difference between a gesture and a habit? Does the ritualistic nature of a habit make it something less?
Each morning, I begin my day by giving my dog Stella her meds and then her breakfast after letting her out after the long night’s wait. I don’t talk much at all, but I touch her. Then I water the plants and I do talk to them as I check the dryness of their soil and the health of their leaves. I believe that plants sense these acts of husbandry as gestures of good feeling, gestures of attention.
After that I do mouth care, water-pic, floss and brushing. This is definitely a habit. I grab my habitual bottle of water and sit at my computer to view, in the same pattern, the websites into which I daily check. I know that what I do with Stella and with the plants is a conscious gesture and I believe that the other stuff is habit.
Some gestures result in a wellspring of emotion. When a person reaches out for another’s hand and that hand is accepted, a myriad of possibilities blossom. When, after cutting you off and hearing your complaining honk, the driver in the car in front of you reaches out the window and raises only a middle finger, there is a rush of anger caused by insult. Each are gestures of communication and each transmit without the need for words. They are both significant gestures.
Declining an invitation without significant cause is also a gesture. Saying no because a member of your family is ill and needs care is far different from saying, “No, I’m just not feeling the need.” The result is not the same. Invitation comes with a certain sense of responsibility.
People have developed a language of gesture that is both complex and meaningful. Asking for a favor and having it declined without real, mitigating circumstances is a profound rejection. A meaningful offer of unsolicited help is different. Accepted, it creates a new kind of bond. Rejection creates a wall and sets boundaries that may have not before been fully realized.
Gestures follow us. They define us on multiple levels. They are intrinsic to who we are and may become. They also help to define who we aren’t and will not become.
Repeated gestures are a bit more like habits. It is harder to discover their significance. There is an expectation that reduces the significance of the gesture. Perhaps significant gestures require an element of the unexpected, of surprise.
Is it the sometimes vague nature of gestures that provides them with multiple meanings? Sometimes it seems so very clear, one gets flipped the bird. Sometimes they are served on a menu of complexity.
A salute is a profound gesture. So is a smile. The click on the other end of the phone is a culminating gesture. Now, defriending a person on social media has joined that group.
We look for and expect certain gestures from people in public life. When they come, we often feel bonded or alienated. Gestures can be polarizing.
We easily title something a gesture without being sure what it means. History does not seem to be capable of making gestures, they are acts of the living.
I think that I’m writing this to learn more about the nature of gestures. Perhaps it is my gesture to a form of communication that I sometimes struggle to master. I hope that it engenders greater questions or understanding for those who read it. It is my gesture.