Shaken hands with somebody you’ve met recently? I have.
But I seem to be doing it a whole lot less than I used to. Every time you touch the hand opposite, your mind zooms in on the hands, and you see the germs jumping ship from one hand to the other, in anticipatory glee. Until the next time you walk by a sink or one of those little sanitizer dispensers, you can feel a heavy weight holding your hand away from your eyes, nose, face, or anything else.
When somebody doesn’t extend a hand to shake yours, you also do not, and nobody is offended.
The world is changing, and with it one of the most common customs in our society. Just as the shared chalice is disappearing, perhaps once and for all, from Church services, I think the handshake is soon to follow.
Being one of those people who watch in absolute disgust as men leave the washroom without washing their hands, I won’t miss it one bit.
The question is: What do we do now?
What is the new handshake?
#1 by Jayson Brown on November 3, 2009 - 4:47 pm
I am feeling the same way these days, the main contact for one of the largest projects we have ever been evolved in, was just diagnosed with the flu.
#2 by kerryslavens on November 4, 2009 - 12:05 am
Good article, Paul. I won't miss handshaking either. Actually, I like the Namaste greeting where a person presses his or her hands together with palms in front of the heart. Namaste is a recognition that we are all equal — we are one. It doesn't involve touch …. but it is touching.
#3 by John Overall on November 5, 2009 - 10:53 am
May start following the orential custom of bowing I would think.
John Overall
#4 by John Overall on November 5, 2009 - 6:53 pm
May start following the orential custom of bowing I would think.
John Overall