I love hugs. 2020 halted them. Who would have ever thought? However, even before 2020, my grandchildren were not "into" hugs. It's not that they don't love me, I believe they do, but for some reason, they are not a big deal to them. To me, they are, should I say, "were"? I understand this day and age that one should not force a child to hug you or anything that they feel uncomfortable doing. I understand the principle, but there are two sides.
I am wondering if the disparity could be life experiences. As a senior citizen, one is so often reminded of mortality. Kids don't think, "this might be the last time I get to hug grandma" and have regrets later if they didn't. They don't think that way and shouldn't, but the thought does cross older peoples' minds at times. One last hug for the road to the grandchild until we meet again. May they remember the love of a hug. It just seems children don't value them the way an older person does.
Surely hugs are just a fleeting physical expression of love and what we have learned in 2020 is there are other ways to show love, yet even those other actions have been limited with the pandemic. I imagine there are those who were thankful for a year when people didn't tackle them with hugs. For some it was a relief but for many the lack of hugs hurt.
It is interesting that in Ecclesiastes where the familiar passage tells us there is a time for everything, actually says in 3:5 "a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing." I guess these are those times.
I hope this time to refrain ends soon. As we enter a new year, we look forward to moving on from our year of refraining from so many things. I imagine some of those things we refrained from will carry on. I am not sure people will ever shake hands again. As for me, I look to a new season of love and hopefully hugs from those who feel comfortable doing so.
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