Photo Credit: Jewish Press

“Let’s shake on it.”

Handshakes can mean hello, goodbye, or an acceptance of an agreement. Handshakes can be used to inspire trust. Which is probably why people ask to “shake” on a deal.

Advertisement




But handshakes can mean even more than that.

Watch inside the dugouts at a major league baseball game. See how some players have special, choreographed handshakes.Think back to your childhood years, when some kids had “secret handshakes.” Handshakes are more than just trust; they can build a bond.

During the recent pandemic, the request was that we keep “social distancing.”

A good friend of mine did not like this terminology. He insisted that humans are social creatures, and we will continue to be social. He insisted that the correct term was actually “physical distancing.” But as the handshakes show us, the physical can enhance our social.

So even though we were still talking and communicating during Covid-19, the lack of handshakes and other physical contact did cause a social distancing, in addition to the physical distancing.

Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleWord Prompt – HANDSHAKE – Shani Taragin
Next articleWord Prompt – HANDSHAKE – Akiva Kra
Yisroel Picker is a Social Worker and certified trauma therapist with a private therapy practice. He also writes and speaks publicly about parenting, communication, cognitive biases and child sex abuse prevention. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and their five children.