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The Hugging Generation

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."

Comments

annimal said…
don't sound so bitter about college hahahha.
2:41 PM
Ken said…
this coming from someone who moved to texas and started to hug everybody ... i see how it is
2:55 PM
Anonymous said…
Wow... that is outlandish! I'm a huge hugger myself (as you might know) and I can't categorize my high school as a "hugging one" or a "non-hugging one," but I am a hugger :) Well, if I think about it long enough and as a practitioner, I can potentially see what the concern is over students hugging too much and/or too often in the hallways of school - especially between classes. Don't get me wrong. Not that students can't hug in school b/c of course they should - hugs are a universal symbol of care and love. But, there are some people out there who hug for sketchy reasons (maybe there should be a hug called the "sketchy intentions" hug - haha!) like hormones-on-legs (aka teenagers in high school!). THAT, I would probably prefer to not see happen very often..... but, am I being clear?! Do you know what I mean? Hahahaha. Anyway, bottomline is: I'm a hugger and I'm proud of it! And, I don't hug w/ sketchy intentions!! Neither should you! :) No one should!

But, I totally hear ya on the whole "hugs stopped in college" thing - what was up w/ that?!?!!? It was like this guys could not even look at girls and vice versa!!! Oh well.... I think I still hugged people my freshmen year. Then, I got namecalled as being too "touchy-feely" b/c that's what I do when I get excited about something (which is pretty often anyway) and start hitting people (uh-oh, physical contact!!! teehee, j'k)), ok not really hitting people, but my spazzy pats (haha, u know what I mean right?!) so yea, I stopped hugging non-girls and ... now I'm just babbling :P

Hugs are great :)
3:25 PM
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