The World’s Oldest Mime on Silent Communication Between People
This article is by Ever Widening Circles, an online platform that’s on a mission to prove it’s still an amazing world. View the original article here
Do you remember the last time you made eye contact with a stranger in a theater, or on an airplane when things were not going well? How about the knowing glance you might have given a sibling during an awkward moment with a parent? Or how about the expressions that need no explanation when you savor the first bite of a gourmet meal or the heady smell of a flowering tree in the spring?
Facial expressions have been used to speak volumes throughout human history, for hundreds of thousands of years, and they are a language all their own.
“To communicate through silence is a link between the thoughts of man.” – Marcel Marceau
Meet the world’s oldest mime
Today we meet the oldest mime: eighty-seven years old, Richmond Shepard. He’s devoted a lifetime to communicating without words and yet he has some words of wisdom for us.
Lovely thoughts there. Such a gentle soul.
Richmond mentioned his work with the greatest mime of all time, Marcel Marceau. Here’s one more quote from Marceau that is worth pondering the next time you decide to give a special moment the liberty of silence.
“Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words.” – Marcel Marceau
Sometimes it feels so good to give people and situations the breathing room that silence encourages. What might be said, or not, if we just let a few moments unravel in silence, without our constant narration?
Something to ponder.
Meanwhile, stay open, curious and optimistic!
