Touch Is Vital

Touch is vital. Touch is healing, and necessary for human development. Find someone you can hug. Find good, healthy sex. Pat a dog or cat. Get a massage from a loving and ethical massage therapist. Connect with a handshake or a kiss. Surround yourself with all kinds of textures – soft, smooth, rough, coarse, fuzzy, prickly. Notice what feels good, and do it. Talk with your partner about these things. If your preferences are different you can work out a compromise. If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, babysitter or teacher, don’t be afraid of hugging the children in your care. Lay a hand on a child’s shoulder when she wants your attention. Look into her eyes. If you are the child of an aging parent, sit with him, pat his knee, always hug and kiss when greeting him or saying goodbye. It is true that when it is coercive, aggressive, the damage can be enormous, but don’t let that make you afraid. You can protect yourself and share information about what to do when someone is touching you in a way you don’t like. And your spreading of good, mutual, undemanding touch is a counterweight to the violent touch that is in the world.