When I shop for clothes, I touch the fabrics. I am particularly attracted to clothes that are luxuriously soft or smooth.
I have a jacket that is not a color I would ordinarily buy -- and from a previous post you know how important color is to me! -- but I own the jacket because it is unusually soft to the touch. When I wear it, I often stroke the left sleeve with my right hand, and when anyone compliments the jacket, I thank them and then invite them to feel the sleeve to marvel at how soft it is.
I have always liked stuffed animals, not because I like animals, but because I like the way they feel when I cuddle them. I can even tell you which brands of stuffed animals feel best.
Touching is an important interpersonal element as we all know. I wonder if that is one reason we continue the ancient greeting of shaking hands -- not to show we bear no weapons, but to touch. Similarly, I think this is why we sometimes hug when we greet people.
Touching is an effective way to show sympathy for someone. I often touch another's arm or hand when I am indicating shared emotion.
Of course, affection is shown through touching . . . a father tossles a small boy's hair, a guy cuffs his friend's shoulder, a couple holds hands.
A touch is a simple gesture . . . not hard to learn and certainly not hard to perform. No complicated steps involved. But it can make all the difference . . . in communicating feeling, in bridging interpersonal chasms, in understanding the world around us.
I wonder if that is why anything that gets past our emotional defenses, past our stoic facades is said to be --- touching.
2 comments:
I saw a couple on the subway today. The man was sitting, and the woman walked into the car and just lit up when she saw him. She ran to him, and sat next to him, but not so close that they touched. He then sat up a little straighter and they acted as if very much in love but seperated by a thin line that they could not cross. It was so weird to see a romantic couple that was clearly that (grossly self involved?) not even try to touch each other.
On the other hand, my girlfriend hugged me on the subway the other day and everyone stared. I live in a culture that doesn't touch at all, much less shake hands. It is a little unreal.
Wow! What an interesting contrast in the cultures! Tell me more about the things like this you observe!
Post a Comment