The All Powerful Hug

If we are lucky, we are born with so much to make life amazing.  The sense of taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch all contribute to each and every minute.   As we go through life we use all of these senses.   Yet all of them, except one, change as we travel life’s journey.  There is one sense, which is amazingly in tune throughout our lives - the sense of touch.

As babies, being held is how we are comforted from unknown upset.  Being held cements the bonds we have with our parents or other caregivers.  We are comforted by touch throughout our lives; in celebration, in greeting, in mourning, no matter the event, a hug goes further than words to connect us to each other by establishing a warmth only found in caring, only found through our humanity. 

As we age, the other senses commonly diminish.  We lose our distinct senses of taste, hearing, smell and eyesight.  They all seem to lessen over time.  But, our sense of touch does not decrease, in fact, sometimes a hug or a squeeze of the hand can strengthen even our oldest or sickest of loved ones.  I don’t know the scientific reason for this, it certainly goes far beyond my expertise, but I’ve seen it and I wonder.

Could it be that the sense of touch is our sense of continuity, of community, the one sense that firmly establishes and validates that we are here, we are cared for, we are loved, we belong?  Is the sense of touch so vital to our lives that nature guarantees its significance by starting us off in life appreciating it, and ending our lives in the exact same manner? 

This past weekend was the celebration of my brother’s marriage to his new bride.  It was a lovely party and one where many of us had the chance to reconnect with people we just don’t have the chance to see often enough.  For some reason, the warmth of each hug really struck me.  Of course everyone could have said hello, seen each other, heard each other, but that was obviously not enough.  I looked around and all I saw were people smiling, hugging each other, and sharing a kiss on the cheek.  It was wonderful and heart-warming.

That’s when it really hit me, that we are all together.  All of us are truly in the same boat.  We all have the same need to be part of something greater, to be attached and to feel that attachment.

A friend recently told me that our lives are like a water bubble on a wave in the ocean.  We start as part of the ocean, the wave rises and for a brief moment we are above the ocean, our own unique shape and form, we continue our rise above the wave as a distinct water bubble until gravity hits and we once again crash down to become part of the ocean.  We are always there, before, during and after, all part of the one form.  Our sense of touch is our connection to all of this.  Through touch we complete the chain of life; we are always a part of humanity.  Hopefully, this connection will help us all to realize that not only are we not alone, we are a part of something wonderfully splendid.  Perhaps our hugs will help us see, as Hillary Clinton stated, “It takes a village”, and each of us is an integral part of the village, held together by our never-ending sense of touch.