Touch sensitive

Have you ever noticed how universally we human beings are wired for touch? It’s something we can’t live without.

I was recently involved in a church service that concluded with a meaningful and emotional prayer time. A couple of guys I know had left their seats and knelt at a designated place to pray near the front of the room. Friends and family joined them, and they enthusiastically hugged, patted them on the back, and stood arm in arm. Among other things, it was a powerful experience of community.

Not too long ago I was at a club listening to some friends rock the house. By the time the third band hit the stage, I noticed something. Friends in the club enthusiastically hugged, patted each other on the back, and stood arm in arm. Among other things, it was a powerful experience of community.

I started grad school as a lone duck. My move to the Midwest took me far from my network of friends and family and added my face to the anonymous crowd of a large city. I lived alone. On occasion my voice would crack when I would speak. That’s when I would realize that I hadn’t spoken for a day or two. It was in those lonely times that I noticed how touch sensitive we really are: A handshake from a colleague. A touch from a cashier returning change. A squeeze on the arm from a friend.

I’m amused by people that panic about technology-enabled, virtual interaction threatening physical community. They sell fears of a society too consumed by cyberspace (old term, coined by William Gibson) to meet IRL (“in real life”) in “meatspace” (new term, source unknown). A century before, their ancestors said the same thing about the "devil’s telephone". We’re touch sensitive. People will always seek proximity.

Any foundational firmware that has been hard coded into our race can be leveraged for good and ill. Touch is no exception. Contrast the handshake with the punch. Contrast the healing touch of a nurse with the grope of a deviant. Contrast the beauty of a new life growing from the intimacy of lovers to the ragged destruction of rape.

In a day when touching sparks investigation and litigation, we tend to keep our hands to ourselves. In general, "hands off" is a good thing. And in the age of swine flu, it’s a sanitary thing. But I wonder if the return swing of this pendulum might also be a good thing. Or maybe I just need a hug.