Matt W Cook

I wish we could be a little more affectionate around here.

In Pakistan, if you meet an old friend whom you haven’t seen for a while, you hug and greet affectionately.

When you meet a good friend you just saw yesterday, you hug and greet affectionately.

When you are introduced to a friend of a friend, you hug and greet affectionately.

When you bump into a stranger on the street and start up a conversation, you hug and greet affectionately.

See a pattern?

In Canada I think we only dare hug if we meet a very good friend whom we have not seen for a very long time. Hugging is baaaaaad.

I was thinking a bit about this and trying to understand why we in the West refuse to be affectionate with each other. I had an idea.

I think we equate affection with sexuality. We live in such a sex-saturated culture that touching of any kind is suspect. We fear ulterior motives and we fear people suspecting that we have ulterior motives. I think it’s sad, though. We miss a lot. We can’t greet each other with a holy kiss (or even a hug) because of our morbid fascination and obsession with sexuality.

When sexuality is not in its proper place, other relationship issues become difficult, don’t they?

So hug, guys. Hug your brother, hug your buddy. Plant a kiss on his cheek every once in a while, too. Affection is good.