Reach out and touch someone, with caution

Lock down, isolation, self-imposed safety stay-at-home — we’ve all been at this for more than a year. As COVID restrictions begin to ease all of us are — no doubt — welcoming the freedom and the opening up of our lives. And if you are careful, you should begin to stretch out, enjoy spring with family and friends as long as you listen — more intently and honestly than ever — to the medical advice still so very necessary. If you’ve had your shots, remember there are many who have not and not only can they infect you but you could infect them if you’ve been exposed. So, yes, caution and common sense is the rule of the day.

But remember, there are people you know, people you had seen in your previous everyday lives who have been alone for over a year. They have had no one to touch them, shake their hand, pat them on the back or hug them. Everywhere around you are people who may be habitual loners of their own choice who never, ever, meant that state of living alone to become total isolation. Human contact is necessary for all our species. A wave, a gesture, a pat on the back is now more necessary than ever.

Here in the desert Southwest, there is an old travelers’ gesture I suggest we all adopt. As you pass someone on the street, as you drive past each other on the road, as you spot a car on your street, watch a biker or bicyclist, or even watch a jogger on her or his way, raise your hand in a friendly gesture of hello, give a friendly nod of the head, of acknowledgement, of camaraderie. What does it cost you? All you are doing is acknowledging that there goes another fellow human being. But in that recognition of each other, you are helping re-establish our connectedness, our commonality, our community.

I never pass another car now without a nod, a brief wave of the fingers off the steering wheel. It doesn’t matter if the other folks missed the gesture — you didn’t forget them. It’ll help reconnect you as well to other people.

Go on, try it — the response you get may change your perspective of being so very alone as well.

Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now resides in New Mexico.