Two people stand at the end of a dock at the edge of a lake. It is late spring, and they have arrived at this body of water, a destination they have traveled to for years. This, they know, will be their final trip to this place together.
The both want the same thing, for the other to jump into the water first, breaking the surface for the other, knowing that it will be cold but invigorating, and yet, they hesitate, each wishing that the other person would take the leap first. The turn their heads to gaze into each other’s eyes, understanding that they both want the same thing, but from the other, and wait, as the mists swirl around them, suspended in the emotion of mamihlapinatapai.
Mamihlapinatapai is the feeling two people share in a glance, each understanding that the other wants them to do something that they both desire, but are unwilling to do themselves. This subtle shared emotion was first articulated by the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego, the cold land at the southern end of South America.
