Upon reading an email I received the other day, it occured to me that in writing, we sometimes leave a sentence ‘unfinished’ and use ‘…’ (three dots) to ‘end’ it. It got me thinking about how much is actually ‘unwritten’ in those few dots, and it dawned on me that it’s often so much more than in all the actual words it was preceded by.
The dots are put in place for us to pause and think about their meaning. Mainly so that we fill in the blanks with assumptions, careful that we don’t completely miss the point that was supposed to be made by them. It’s a kind of ‘no man’s land’ where words and meanings can get lost or found. Where we sometimes like to place the unknown or unspoken. That which ought not to be said out loud, only ponderd. It is what we sometimes want and wish for but do not dare to openly expect. It is what we say, when we have no words left to say it.
The silence of the dots is not silent at all, if you think about it. Even though we see no words, a multitude of them may fill that dotted line, expressing so much more than the actual words ever could. It is an entire ‘world’ of thoughts and wishes that opens up with only one key … three dots and the magical world opens.
Which brings me back to the email itself. It was one written by a lovely person, who lives in his safe and predictable comfort zone, someone who rarely steps outside his personal borders, but who is now about to embark on the biggest adventure possible for him. A foreign country, far away from friends and family. A leap into the unknown, across the point of no return, and even though a return ticket has already been booked, the outcome of his journey remains unknown for now. Time will tell, I suppose, in his case, as this time his clock is ticking and there is no way back to the comfort zone that there once was. Everything must change. Seasons come and seasons go, but never quite the same.
The message I received was left open ended by 3 famous dots, the ones that hold the key to the unexpected outcome of what his travels may bring about.
It is when we step outside the lines, of what we’re used to, that we see new things, and experience the novelty of unchartered territories. Just like the sentence with a dotted open ending, we too must sometimes dare to leave some blanks if only to enable us to see or feel the new frontiers. Once in a while though step on to a dot and use it as the stepping stone it’s meant to represent, taking us far and beyond that which we may be able to express only in words.
It is there, in the silence of no words that so much is said.
Life may just be all about our travels on that dotted line …..