Blog 164 – 11.17.15

First let me say that I am not anti-technology. Many improvements in manufacturing, mechanized farming, and distribution across a wide variety of industries have made food, necessities, and even a lot of the niceties of life available to a vast majority of people around the world. But all these innovations and technical marvels have not come without a price. The biggest price we have paid is in the loss of the human touch in our daily lives.

So much of personal interaction has been replaced by computers and phone menus that keep us further and further away from real human interaction. I resisted a long time being a part of Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter. I finally yielded this year because I was told if I ever wanted to get a book published that I would need to write a blog and develop what is called a platform, readership, or following. So that is why I am into Social Media to promote my blog. It is heart rendering all the cries for attention and separation anxiety you can read into many comments on Social Media. People are so hungry for connection.

A dear cousin of mine passed several years ago and he was so grateful for his computer connection to friends and so much information because he lived the life of a virtual shut in due to medical problems. I am grateful he had a loving caring wife and the human touch in his life.

Many years ago in sociology class I read of a study conducted with babies in a hospital setting. One group of babies were cared for identically by nurses with one exception, the nurses always wore rubber gloves so the babies were denied the human touch. They became sickly and weak and would have died for want of the human touch. We all crave human contact. We are made that way. Oh, often you will meet individuals that seem to spurn contact with others and many people have intimacy issues which often can be resolved with professional help. The great disconnect we all feel is not real for we are connected to one another and the Universe at large. That is why we love being out in nature and sharing close proximity with friends and family, why we hug, hold hands, kiss, pat each other on the back and host of other societally accepted touching rituals. We are tactile creatures. We touch to connect. We touch to share. We touch to learn.

What is the human touch? One of the most moving paintings ever painted is Michael Angello’s rendering on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of God reaching out and touching the finger of Adam. In the creation story we are told that God formed man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed into him the breath of life. The first man was touched by God and every man since and we each of us carry that kiss of life, that touch of God within us to share. The touch of man is really the Touch of God. A Christian song from some years back has these thrilling words, “He touched me, He touched me and oh the joy that filled my soul. Something happened and now I know He touched me and made me whole.” God touched Adam and made him whole and that touch abides in each of us. One more song lyric to close, “Reach out and touch somebody’s hand. Make this world a better place if you can.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White