Embrace

Not all of us show our emotions enough, do we? We acknowledge friends and acquaintances and sometimes we shake them by the hand. Well, at least us men do. Women often go a step further, with an affectionate peck on the cheek. In the age of Rolf Harris, Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter and Stuart Hall, kissing and hugging have somehow been turned into dirty words. It’s time to put a stop to that now.

Recent events in our village have seen me kissing and hugging lots of people, some of whom I barely knew until a few weeks ago, others I didn’t know at all. I’ve been a shoulder to cry on, too. I like kissing and hugging.

It’s not the sexual kissing and hugging, although that can be fun too. It’s the outpouring of humankind. For a time, back in the 1980s, it was not seen as a good thing to embrace anyone, as if each showing of affection was somehow a gateway to predatory behaviour. It could be that I am too old, and seen to be too old to be a threat to anyone, that my kisses and hugs have generally not been warded off.

I am a touchy person, always have been. It’s not something I really thought about, but when I see someone I like, I tend to shake them warmly by the hand and embrace them. Their sex doesn’t unduly bother me. It’s not for a cheap thrill.

In our village, the warm embrace has been many things, It has been a comfort blanket, a loving embrace, a reassurance, a show of solidarity and the sharing of pain. If you need a hug, someone is there. It’s entirely natural too.

The tiny minority of poisonous, exploitative perverts in society – no more than there ever were, by the way – has meant many of us have been worried about expressing our true emotions. Well, don’t worry. The embrace is almost always the expression of love and humankind at its best. Don’t let hate drag us down.