The Constant Wanderer

My gangster friend alerted me of a very interesting news story about teens and hugging. Basically, the story goes that some school districts are trying to ban students from hugging each other because hugging has become such a phenomenon in schools. And of course, students are fighting back by insisting their right to hug.

If you have a couple spare minutes, you should definitely read the article. Kids are just strange these days, I don't remember people excessively hugging each other when I was in school, what's up with that?!? When I was in high school, we hugged each other from time to time, but never when we're just passing by each other in the hallway. I'm all for hugs, but this just seems a bit over the board, especially when they have all these names for different hugging styles: exponential hug, drive-by hug, true friend hug, fantastic news hug, grandma hug .... etc.

When I went to college, all the hugging stopped. For some reason guys and girls got the impression that they should never ever touch each other, except with a long stick. Touching meant EVIL and hence us holy people just never hugged. Maybe during graduation we touched each other for one fleeting moment, but that's about it. Things were a little different between the guys though, my roommate P would come into my room and ask me for a hug periodically, and J would insist on having a group hug every Sunday night ... and if you're wondering, P and J are both happy married now. Can you see a trend here?

If you ask me, I would say hugs for everybody. Everyone needs to be reaffirmed that they are loved and cared for in a tangible way from time to time. And what better way is there than a genuine embrace? As the someone from the article said, "If everyone did it (hugging), the world would be a better place."