The Need To Touch, To Connect

Click here to I’m lonely. I’ve said it before. It hasn’t changed.
 
I can go weeks without touching another human being.  I don’t mean in a sexual way, but the casual touch—a brushing of a hand across a shoulder to signify passing, a hug as a greeting, holding hands, or even sitting next to someone closely enough so that you feel their nearness and warmth
 
I don’t think I’m alone in my loneliness.
 
We live in a world filled with billions of people and yet most of us touch no one.  We’ve created a culture of solitude by moving away from the cities of our parents, our roots.  We’ve surrounded ourselves with strangers and electronic friendships and lost all physical connections to one another.
 
I see what use to be when I visit my mother. She is of a different generation, a different world.  When she talks to the clerk at the store, she knows that person’s heritage. She touches that clerk’s hand and it’s not weird; it’s friendly, comforting.
 
I never experience that.  In my profession (in most professions) we don’t touch.  There are no friendly hand touches, elbow nudges or pats on the back.  The threat of being sued or taken to human resources has instilled in us a fear of touch.
 
Humans are tactile animals. We need to touch and be touched.  We need contact.  It isn’t surprising that so many of us have pets at home.  At least with them, we can touch with no fear of reprisals.