READING BODY LANGUAGE

Much is said about the importance of understanding and using body language in communications. For all of its importance, I sometimes find myself unwittingly mislead by it.

A newly wed couple live down the hall from me. He is a medical resident. She is a computer programmer. On some mornings, we meet each other on the way to work. Most of the time, they come down the hall with a light step and walking very close to each other. One morning,I noticed that they walked down the hall as if they did not know each other. Their shoulders were heavy with what I assumed must have been the weight of an argument. One walked behind the other. Their body language communicated, they were a troubled couple.

Later I learned that both had a week of exhausting heavy work that they brought home with them. My assumption based on their body language was totally wrong. It was then that I thought of an old professor of mine, admonishing me before I wrote anything to verify, verify, verify. Would that today's news pundits did the same!