Six-Word Somethings

Baby shoes: for sale, never used.
  - Ernest Hemingway

Making a bet with a writer that he can't write something can be both good and bad: bad if you loose, but good if his resulting win is something extraordinary. In the 1920's, colleagues of Ernest Hemingway bet him that he would be unable to pen a complete story in just six words. Hemingway took the bet, won, and considers the above sentence to be among his best work. For anyone who has questioned if less can ever really be more, there is the proof. Six words that tell of life, death, hope, sorrow, and moving forward. A brief glimpse of something deeply heart-wrenching. Remarkable.

Since that time, it has spawned many other people to write their own six-word stories. In the memoir 'Signs Of Life', a teacher recalls how she gave that assignment to her class, with a few of the results. There are contests to pick the best one, blogs and websites open for submissions, and even an entire book, 'Not Quite What I Was Planning', (and a few sequels) dedicated to selected six-word stories.

I admit that I have a tendency to go on too long with written or spoken words. I love mellifluous descriptions. I want to fully get a point across. Yet it makes me wonder how things would be if we each communicated with more meticulously measured intent. A long poem or inspiring speech can be wonderful, but sometimes, isn't it simply one line that stands out the most?

What would your six-word story be, either memoir or fiction or something in general?
I could spill a slew of sentences, but for now, will just type out one that shows the optimist in me:

Life - gravity. Faith - sunlight. Love - wings.