So I was in the mall... Enjoy the commercially-induced holiday spirit... And standing in a long, crowded line at Newport, waiting for my turn at the food. I hate people.
And as I was waiting on line, I wondered... Where is everybody? See, I went with a group of people... And when you go to a big mall in New Jersey, there's a food court. And there are many stations and many people on the food court.
I didn't want to call anyone. That'd be a waste of time and minutes, even though I'm not one of those weird people that counts minutes. But, all I did see was one friend of ours that was in the station over from me, within yelling distance. But there's the problem. I didn't want to yell. As much as I wanted to stomp on all the little children, I didn't want to yell. So how do I communicate with the man?
And it was then that it dawned on me... Sign language! Sign language as a silent, non-verbal way of communicating with someone, from either very close range to a semi-far range, but not too far. Now that I think about it, the distance is only governed by the resolution of the body language.
So I could have communicated with my friend there. About how I was hungry, or how I wanted to stomp on all the little children.
That's my day at the mall. Two pairs of shoes and a thought about semi-remote human interaction.
Posted by Mark Canlas at November 14, 2004 08:50 PM