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Do you ever read the junk that clogs up your email account? I sometimes do when I’m not interested in getting started to work which often happens on Mondays like today. There was an ad about helping you deal with the stress in your life. There were the usual ideas such as doing yoga or tai chi, but one stopped me in my tracks. The headline to the paragraph was “Affection.” The main suggestion of the paragraph was to get a hug from someone you care about. In today’s world, I think you have to be careful about this and specifically ask for a hug by saying something like, “It’s been a rough day. Can I have a hug?” There have been books written about the importance of the human touch to our well-being, but I’m afraid that our ideas of social correctness may be preventing this or at least distorting it. When I was teaching at Western Michigan University, I frequently used touch to help students. If one of the football players had gotten a bad grade in my class and was worried about all that meant, at the end of our conversation, I would offer him a handshake and pat him on the shoulder as we shook hands. If it was a female student I’d say something like, “It looks like you could use a hug. Do you want one?” I don’t remember ever being turned down. Getting a bad grade or just struggling in a college class can be devastating to a student. It is a blow to the ego and potentially damaging to their future. Talking to them and reassuring them helps, but a handshake or a hug seems to finish the deal like frosting on a cake.