108 I Can Read You Like a Book R
luxury that would cost soup and sandwiches. I’ll extrapolate to say
that Mother Teresa concluded that the needs of a great number of
sub-typical people—the homeless in New York—surpassed the
needs of a minority, who may not be sub-typical at all. (And are we
to think that the good sisters wouldn’t walk downstairs to give a
sandwich to a homeless man in a wheelchair?)
Body adornments
Body language encompasses both voluntary and involuntary
movements, but you should not stop there. In some cases, hair,
clothing, accessories, and body art can clarify the message, or are
even an integral part of it. In others, they distract from the mean-
ing.Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw droops without her Manolo
Blahniks. Her shoes enable her body language; they affect the way
she expresses resilience and optimism. You can’t know Carrie without
knowing her shoes. Contrast this with the case of the Toronto po-
lice officer who got away with murder for 30 years. Finally con-
victed in 1999 with the help of DNA evidence, Ron West had shot
and killed two women with young children at home. They saw him
at the door and let him in. Any suspicion they might have gleaned
from his body language no doubt faded because his police uniform
projected trust and protection.
Most people consciously choose their appearance. It may re-
late to lifestyle and occupation, but within the limits of those, we
usually still have some range about hairstyles, clothes, and body art.
They are an outcrop of how we want people to perceive us, and
how we fit in our culture.
