On the importance of being a good hugger

    For those of you who are sociology and psychology majors, you know what I mean when I say the phrase “social interaction.”  It’s not difficult to figure out what the phrase means, if you are social sciences major.  For those who don’t know what it means, though, here’s a brief definition.
    Social interaction is the relationship a person has with a certain event, usually involving another person.  However, there is a deeper relationship one must reveal, to understand where I’m going with this topic.
    Social contact is one form of social interaction, the most popular of which is hugging.  People who don’t show love and kindness generally have not either had it before in their lives or they’ve had a bad experience which prevents their hearts from warming.
    I don’t know which one of these two reasons is the main reason most students do not smile or say “hello” or “good morning,” etc. when one passes by them.  I certainly would like to know.  However, one theory is that perhaps it’s the constant use of cell phones by students all over creation which prevents them from having proper social interaction.
    Perhaps they were taught by their parents to not be polite.  Perhaps they learned at a very young age to not say “hello” to someone passing by them.  Perhaps they grew up in New York City.  But certainly the couple thousands of students that pass by certainly didn’t all grow up that way.  This is the South, center of hospitality.
    Due to this lack of social interaction, here’s a challenge.  Hug someone that you’re acquainted with, whether they’re a friend or someone just in your classes.  See if that changes the atmosphere of the campus.  Perhaps students will be friendlier.  Maybe the use of cell phones will drop.  But, that could be too much of a generalization.
    Social interaction on campus, what a concept! Maybe if each person hugs someone, no, make it as many people as they are acquainted with, that will change the personality of students on campus, at least temporarily.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 16 2007. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry