"It's the sense of touch...

...In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."
- Graham, Crash


It's unnecessary though, isn't it? We shouldn't need to crash into each other just to feel something. Like I said before, we are taught to isolate ourselves, but when we do, we're really fighting against our inherent nature. Deep down, we know that we were not designed to exist completely independent of all others, but still, we fight it, and fight it heartily. Once in a while, though, in moments of self-revelation, we can admit to ourselves that it is a lonely business, being alone, and in these lapses between battles, we hunger for that touch - not even for that silent companionship of sympathy or empathy, but just for that tangible feeling. Sometimes we really do just need that physical reminder that we are not alone.

And it gets us in trouble. We mistake that need to be alone no longer for real, true attraction to another. We confuse needing to be with anyone, with, needing to be with a certain someone. We mistake needing that touch with needing love, when that's really not the case at all - we know and feel others' love; we just need that palpable reminder that it exists. Sometimes we do need that disembodied feeling to present itself in a corporeal sensation, but, as practiced deceivers of ourselves, that love needn't really exist in the touch - we can imagine and conjure it well enough. The warmth, the substantialness and acutality of the contact is enough.

We are all aware of this at some point or another, whether we know it or not. We all feel that desire to just reach out and hold someone, or to rest our head on their shoulder. However it presents itself, whether it be in poking or tickling, hitting or sparring, or even throwing someone over your shoulder or sitting on top of them - I think that there are times when this isn't a manifestation of how you feel about the person. It's not an outlet for secreted, pent-up emotion, but a demonstration of a simple, universal need for human contact, for a physical connection - even if it's only for a moment.


"Times came when you needed someone's arms around you. Mostly Jocelyn liked being single, but sometimes she thought about that."
- Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club

----------------
Listening to: Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch