The Burning Question – “Was I heard?”

We are, or have been, burdened by countless communications that were never acknowledged. These communications hang there, like little armed bombs; owning us and dictating so many of our actions; in wait for that simple and certain acknowledgment. Each unacknowledged communication takes a piece of us and freezes it in a moment of waiting. Stilled, in time, by that little uncertainty: “Was I heard?”

As the artist creates his beauty, he may be creating, again and again, for one person, maybe even one long dead; from whom he never got the acknowledgment for which he so longed.

The orator, though listened to by  many, may be speaking only to a single being, the same one over and over through the years as he, almost unknowingly, attempts to get that one communication across and acknowledged. This attempt, not knowing the true source of the frustration, fixes him into a continuous attempt to finish that one communication; but with repeated lack of success. And this can last for all of his time.

It’s sad. And it is endearing. The understanding of this simple aspect can help us to understand some of the complexities of our fellow man; and of ourselves.

A good and simple acknowledgment could put to rest untold numbers of communications that remain hung and frozen; unfulfilled and incomplete.

Think of the turmoils of the world; the wars fought; the family unrests; the criminal ventures; the tears shed; the hearts torn; all, but for the want of a simple acknowledgment of something that was said, of a simple gester of recognition that it was received – loud and clear.

Think of the times you weren’t acknowledge. That feeling or thought, though you tried to deliver it, which was never really heard. Or was it? You do not know. Not for sure. And you still wait for that acknowledging nod – that wink of the eye; that “thank you”‘; that, “I got it” or even, “I understand”.

Possibly knowledge of and the application of the simplicity of acknowledgment, by all, would heal most of the wounds of the human spirit.

Maybe we has parents, as sons and daughters, as sisters and brothers, fellow employees, as fellow humans sharing the dynamics of all, should remember this.

Acknowledgment ends the single communication. It ends that cycle. It clears the way.

We’d all be better off if we, habitually, and with good intention, acknowledged our fellow men and women.