Sweet Nothings

I remember succinctly this pitch I delivered to a group of young people about finding The One.


(Shrills heard. Excited ang mga leche basta lovelife at paglalandi ang topic.)


I think I was talking about the relevance of nonverbal communication when I segued into that moment when one feels that he could sit on a bench the whole day with someone and talk about nothing. Yea, just sit together and talk about nothing, and then part ways and feel that what happened was the best conversation you've had with someone.


(Am reading "DUH!" on their eyes. Must be morons. Still I persist.)


I mean, words are very powerful tools. Remember the adage about sticks and stones breaking the bones but words breaking another's heart? We go through our basic education trying to read and write and speak properly. We study English and Filipino until college. We struggle to master Grammar/Balarila and Rhetorics/Retorika. We may even take up a foreign language or two. All in the name of becoming adept in articulation. Also , we have an abundance of literary pieces. Plus the proliferation of blogs, di ba? Words convey meaning. They have power.


But I was thinking, what if we all ran out of things to say, what if we grow speechless at one moment...or what if we were able to say and write all ideas already...? What then?


(Silence. No reaction. Mga jologs ata...ayaw ng literary eclat.)


I couldn't help but think of my teacher in college, in my Pilosopiya ng Tao class, when he kept saying when he ran out of things to discuss as the bell hasn't rung yet: "Kapag nasabi na ang lahat ng masasabi, ang mahalaga ay di pa rin masasabi." I'm thinking, marahil ito ay magagawa at mararamdaman o maipadarama lamang. But that's just me.


(More listlessness. Was that a yawn? And a another yawn? Ampootah, interesting naman topic ko ah.)


To land on a better terrain of familiarity and solicit any sign of comprehension from my catatonic audience, I mentioned the theme song of my favorite Julia Roberts movie, Notting Hill. Yeah, that cheesecake song, "When You Say Nothing At All." Hey, I had to drive a point on nonverbal communication!


(Faces light up. They dig schmaltz. As if.)


My parting shot: Paraphrasing the song, a smile, a look, a touch can express a lot. Words may not be spoken at all but surely with these, one can tell a lot. And say it with me: "You say it best, when you say nothing at all."


(Screams let out. Some clapping. Mush sells.)


Flashback: Oh yea, the last scene of the film was Hugh Grant sitting on a bench and Julia Roberts lying on his lap, and they were saying nothing at all...LOL.

I rest my case. Roll credits.

Postscript: I could spend an eternity with Crabcake on a bench and exchange sweet nothings with him. Yea, Crabcake was The One for me.