“Come ‘ere ya big lug and gimme a great big HUG!”
I will not play tug o’ war.
I’d rather play hug o’ war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.
–Shel Silverstein– (American poet, cartoonist and composer 1930-1999)
I have finally had it. I have been pushed to the precipice and I find myself staring off into the void, with an abject and questioning countenance and more then a few tears mournfully shuffling down my cheek.
Open your eyes today and see; the World aflame with racial/religious/culture/political intolerance, with none of the various particpants displaying any sense of morality or desire for true peace; the United States denying medical care to children whose families cannot afford it, but make too much money to be declared officially impoverished; our own planet crying out in pain over the cummulative abuses of its precious resources, as well as numerous other examples of our collective selfishness, insensitivity, lack of concern, needless aggression, hubris, and eventual overwhelming sense of isolation and alienation.
What I need more than anything right now is a hug, a hug that shows me that life is still worth living, that the dark of night will surely dissolve into morning light, that we humans, as a species, have not completely lost grip with the fundementals of our own perishing humanity. The simple warmth of one human body embracing another, true human contact, to celebrate life and comfort grief is the most precious of all gifts. A hug in its most simple voice, either whispers or screams, “Everything will be all right.”
More than any items in this weekend’s news, one simple, small, tucked away news story appalled me more than all the sensationalist bloody and corruption-laden headlines; “Fossil Hill Middle School in Fort Wort, Texas, announced that its students would no longer be allowed to embrace or even hold hands.” Additionally, school districts as spread out as in Oregon, Iowa, Illinois and Florida have enacted similar edicts. Their reasoning……….. “Hugging creates congestion in school hallways and is a clear doorway to molestation or sexual harassment.”
MY GOD!!! - HAVE WE BECOME MINDLESS ROBOTS???
I do understand the root of their thinking. I am in no way pro-sexual harrassment or, for that matter, pro-hallway congestion. But, SURELY there are better solutions.
We’re not talking about kids groping and making out. We are talking about HUGS, that simple act of affirming one another’s humanity. That is so powerful.
We call on the phone and get voice-recognition software, not human voices. We transact business through emails and websites, not handshakes and eye contact. We travel the streets in our white-wired iPod cocoons, deaf to the sounds of the world around us. Now the hug joins the growing list of banned items, like hair gel and mouthwash on airline travel.
I guess if our children are outside of the family environment and need some consolation, or want to celebrate, or just want to know that they’re not completely alone in this confusing world…..text messaging will have to surfice.
Ahhhhh screw it! KIDS (AND GROWNUPS) OF THE WORLD, “UNITE AND HUG!”
“A hug is the perfect gift; one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.”
oh larry, unfortunately i am all too familiar with this. when i was teaching, there were very strict rules about not being too physical (aka hugging, holding hands, etc.) with students. with older children (like in middle school up) i can begin to understand some of these rules, especially after all of the recent headlines involving inappropriate teacher/student relationships. however, being told that i was not allowed to hug a four-year-old special ed student was not only disheartening, but maddening as well. kids need a certain amount of affection, and i cannot believe that they are now being denied that affection because of a few bad apples. grrrrr, i feel your annoyance!
Larry -
If I could I would give you a big giant bear hug. So, feel the cyber-squeeze & smile!
Monica
Larry,
I largely understand your frustration… but before I write anything I shouldn’t… could you tell me what is the richest country in the world and what that is based on? I always though it’s Luxembourg (that’s in the “country” of Europe …). Also, may I suggest you - the educated, hip, sophisticated New Yorker that I’m assuming you are - give your Middle East comment a bit more thought.
As comms expert, I trust you understand how news in America, and all over the world, are “made”. May I suggest you learn another language and consume “news” through other sources - German newspapers (I recommend FAZ, Die Zeit and BILD to give it a bit of a range), a few English ones (from Sun to Independent), a few French (Liberation, Le Monde) ones, a few Spanish ones, Russia wouldn’t be a bad source and also try some Iranians? All that should give you a good scope of “news” to make up your own mind about the world. Also - may I ask you to look up the Middle East on the map, and see how many countries you can find. Do a little research, you’ll be amazed. If all that doesn’t really help to inform your view come and visit us in the Middle East. No need to be scare, not every country is at war, being invaded or an Al Qaida training ground.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE
A big hug from the Middle East,
Christian (ironic, eh?)
Christian,
Firstly, thank you very much for correcting some factual inaccuracies in my post. Based on your suggestions, I have made some edits. Please see above. I always greatly appreciate it when someone spends the time to further my education.
I wrote my post as an emotional response to an article that I read in my weekly subscription of “The Week”, a periodical that summmarizes international media (including some of the sources that you mentioned in your comments.)
http://www.theweekdaily.com/
The intent of my posting was not to criticize anything or anyone except the Texas school officials who enacted that (in my opinion) adbsurd “no hugging” policy.
But Christian, I must ask you, “Why the hostile attack on me?” Wouldn’t it have been far more effective to have pointed out my inacuracies positively spirited. As you see, I am more then willing to admit my mistakes and take the action to correct them.
For some reason you felt it would be the appropriate response to ridicule and insult me. Why is that?
You derogatorily use the stereotype “hip New Yorker” (I am from Florida), you represent that I believe that Europe is a country (Did I say that?), you state that I need to find the Middle East on a map and that I am afraid to visit there (I have been to Lebanon, Eygpt, Israel, Jordon and the UAE), and lastly you link a video highlighting embarassing examples American lack of geographical education to my post.
What you have done is display a crystal-clear example of how small misunderstandings and wrongful assumptions call easily escalate to unnecessary aggression.
I freely admit that I know nothing about you as a person Christian. You might be a wonderful person, you might be horrible. You could be incredibly loving or vehemntly hateful. You could view the world with tolerance and sympathy or be closed-minded and unaccepting. I do not know. But before I would publically attack you on those or any other attributes, I would try to understand you.
Peace.
Larry
larry@nakedcomms.com
Wikipedia has two lists that sort countries by gross domestic product per capita, one by the IMF and one by the CIA. Luxembourg tops both lists — by a good margin.
Happy to report that some time ago, this American happened to live there for five years. It’s a lovely place. I highly recommend a visit.
Dear Christian & Pak - I applaud both of you for your support of Luxembourg. I have been there as well and I found it a truly delightful place.
You both are correct, by all accounts, Luxembourg does top all lists of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
The question is, “Is that truly the best metric for determining the world’s “richest country”?” GDP is a measurement of the size of a country’s annual economy. GDP’s main goal is to estimate a country’s income/production over a given year. Does highest annual income make something or someone the richest? Many of the world’s wealthiest individuals, may not have topped the annual income list as well.
Additionally, that measurement is clearly “per capita”, which means per person. I also must ask, “Is per person the best way to measure the ‘richest country’?” If Country A has 1 citizen and that citizen has $100 and Country B has 100 citizens and each has $10, which is the wealthiest country? Country A’s per capita and nominal (gross) wealth would both be $100. Country B’s per capita wealth would be $10 (far less than Country A), but its nominal wealth would be $1,000 (far greater than Country A) In fact, if you do decide to use GDP as the proper measurement device, but use nominal GDP, not “per capita”, Luxembourg does not make an appearance on anybody’s list. The United States does lead that list by a very wide margin (China #2). Of course GDP does not include debt, so that even complicates the situation more.
My point being, we must fully understand the definition of terms and have agreement on their meaning before we enter into a debate like this and assume superior knowledge.
But much more significantly, my original posting had to do with the importance of hugging and human contact, not international wealth or politics.
Thank you both for providing me this opportunity to enter into this enjoyable debate (truly fun and challenging!), but I still think we all can use a “big ole hug!”
Larry
ya big lug