the history of love.

"The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people's hands, nothing that could not be said in the endless array of movements possible with the fine bones of the fingers and writs. The gestures were complex and subtle, involving a delicacy of motion that has since been lost completely.

Naturally, there were misunderstandings. There were times when a finger might have been lifted to scratch a nose, and if causal eye contact was made with one's lover just then, the lover might accidentally take it to be the gesture, not at all dissimilar, for 'Now I realize I was wrong to love you.' These mistakes were heart-breaking. And yet, because people knew how easily they could happen, because they didn't go around with the illusion that they understood perfectly the things other people said, they were used to interrupting each other to ask if they'd understood correctly.

Sometimes these misunderstandings were even desirable, since they gave people a reason to say, 'Forgive me, I was only scratching my nose. Of course I know I've always been right to love you.' Because of the frequency of these mistakes over time the gesture for asking forgiveness evolved into the simplest form. Just to open your palm was to say 'Forgive me'."

The History of Love, Nicole Krauss.

I have asked for forgiveness so many times. And yet, not enough. If forgiveness was only as easy as turning over your empty hand, confessing the emptiness that exists without the pardoning offered from your love. To be kindred spirits, I believe, is to be able to open your hands to one another and know that all is forgiven.

Let us continue to make gestures to one another, continue to attempt to communicate what we think and feel and believe. And then, when we do not understand, let us stop and ask for the missing words. We will stop and seek clarity, because a life without understanding is no life at all.