Touch Starved
What DOES it mean to be human? Virtually everything that you have learned is wrong. It is NOT your fault. The problem is, nearly everything you learn has somebody's agenda behind it, very often the obvious ones of making money, etc., but very often hidden. This is why our western society is so very sick. We are taught about political, social, cultural, gender, and religious correctnesses. We are NOT taught about HUMAN correctness. We are told we should follow the laws of the government, but not the universal laws. We are told we should follow the "correct-ness" laws, but not the human laws. We believe we can make up the human laws. We can not!
The largest organ of the body is the skin. In a grown man, it covers about 19 square feet and weighs about 8 pounds. A piece of skin the size of a quarter contains more than 3 million cells, 100 to 340 sweat glands, 50 nerve endings and 3 feet of blood vessels. Many people are aware of research done with monkeys not allowed to be with their mothers and how totally insane they went. And yet, we seem to think we can get along fine without nurturing touch. Oh sure, we give the obligatory "hello and good-bye hug" (sometimes), but that's not enough.
Many people say, "Well, I'm not a 'touchy-feely' kind of person. Imagine you saw someone with a blindfold on and ear plugs in their ears. When you inquire, they say, "Oh, I'm not a 'see-ey, hear-y' type of person." Would you think, "Hmm, interesting", or would you think, "Now there's one sick S.O.B."? Or they had tape over their nose and mouth and said, "I'm not a breath-y, eat-y type of person." You'd know they were going to die soon.
"Touch belongs to the universal law of life and we are a touch deprived society. We must not be afraid." Eva Sherer
There are generally Two kinds of cultures classified as High Touch and Low Touch. Countries like France, Italy, and Greece are High Touch; New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and, yes, the U.S.A are Low Touch. What's the difference. Well check this out.
One study showed a stark contrast between cultures by noting the number of touches exchanged by pairs of people sitting in coffee shops around the world:
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, people touched 180 times an hour;
in Paris, France, 110 times an hour;
in Gainesville, Florida, 2 times per hour; and
in London, England, they never touched.
On a pre-school playground watching children they found
Affectionate Touching -
Aggressive Touching
Now, who invaded Iraq? Was it France or was it the US and Britain?
We have also made touch practically evil. If you touch an associate at work or another student at school, it is sexual harassment. If you touch a child, you are probably a pedophile. If you touch someone of the same sex, you are a homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that); if you touch anyone, you are a 'touchy-feely' type of person. I have news for you. WE ARE ALL TOUCHY FEELY TYPES OF PEOPLE - at least we should be. But we have made it "inappropriate" to touch anyone. Some parents are even AFRAID to touch their own children, as it could be construed somehow as inappropriate touching.
Those places with the lowest touch scores are, not coincidentally, also the places with the highest incidents of SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION. Half of our adult population are on anti-depressants. More than a million people a year commit suicide in the world. You know, in spite of my "Would you push the button" blog, I don't want you dead, but there are people in power who do. They purposefully create ideas like 'don't touch' and 'watch out for pedophiles and sexual harassment in order to isolate you, depress you, and get you on drugs and/or to kill yourself. They want you sick and dying! They don't want you to be alive and awake. They want you to see a lot of killing in movies but not a glimpse of a breast or buttocks. They want you to talk on cell phones and communicate via computer, but not to sit with a friend, look deeply into their eyes, hold their hands, hug them or cuddle up.
Our bodies NEED touch like our stomachs need food. We need all kinds of nourishment consistently and regularly – food, sleep, sunshine, and TOUCH. It doesn't require a 'partner' or lover. We are all part of the human family. We all need touch to survive and be healthy.
So, "Reach out and touch someone!"