h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Touching and Our Society

Posted Nov 25, 2003

I just have a few things to say on our society and its touching habits. Although we all appear and try to be "normal," well-adjusted individuals within our society today, something has gone terribly wrong regarding when people today actually have to touch each other. We all want to be touched and cared for; this is the way people can express their love for us. Indeed when you are truly "touched" by something it affects you greatly. So what is wrong with our society today?!
Try this: Walk onto a bus and choose a seat. Heck, you can even do this on an airplane. Now, make sure this seat is next to someone else's seat. What will they do when you sit down? They'll scoot over! And if they cannot scoot over they will go through the motions of attempting to scoot over just to show you that they want to! If we are all such normal, well-adjusted people we should want to show the newcomer that they are welcome to sit next to us. Would the logical thing not be to simply remain where you are and smile invitingly? Instead we scooch as far away as we can and we act as if one of us is a jelly donut and the other a supermodel when we actually accidently make body to body contact. I even had one woman apologize to me when touching my hand with her shirt sleeve. In fact, the only purpose an armrest serves nowadays is to separate people from each other: heaven forbid anyone actually uses it to rest their arms. We would then be getting to close for comfort to everyone else, and it would be rude because they might want to use the armrest, but of course they won't use it for fear of getting jelly on their perfect, super-model sculpted body. So, next time you are on a bus and someone sits right next to you, try something: don't scoot over and sit compainably close as if one of you was a salt shaker and the other a pepper shaker.

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Latest reply: Nov 25, 2003