The senses - hearing, smell, sight, taste, and touch - awaken for various reasons and at varying times throughout a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a year, a lifetime. They are our perceptive centers that allow us to enjoy life. Each of us have different sense capabilities and capacities. But I will bet that we all benefit from touch.
To be touched is to feel alive. I am not talking about the touch we experience in sexual encounters. I am talking about that basic touch - the hug, the embrace, the arm around the shoulder, the pat on the back. This pleasure may be appreciated more by females than males. I can only speculate on this matter. However, I think everyone deeply needs to be touched and touch others.
I think about people who are deprived of caring human touch such as prisoners, hostages, and even some families. Imagine being one of them living their life without a tap on the shoulder or a warm embrace. They may not even shake hands. I have a friend from Japan who never received hugs from her parents. As an American it is difficult to swallow that reality but it exists.
A reality without receiving that comfort of touch is a sad reality. So I thank my friends, family and lovers for the physical contact they have given to me and that they give me today. They bring me a sense of warmth, comfort, strength and happiness. In the same vein, it is with much thanks that I name the "Free Hugs Campaign" as bringing much joy to others. I was "hugged" in Paris on a gloomy day walking in Les Tuileries after a long work week. It left me feeling healed. So keep on hugging. It will do us all some good.
