Raspberry Smiles

I read the NPR book This I believe this winter and was moved to write my own.  I probably started with about 4 different topics, some seemed to grand, others too personal.  Through that process, came this:
This I Believe

I believe in the positive power of human touch. Human beings have basic needs: food, shelter and clothing. I would argue that physical touch is the fourth need. My belief has been formed by two important aspects of my life; my chosen profession as a physical therapist, and my life’s joy as a mother. I’ve always been in awe of the human body. Psalm 139:14 states that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I gained an enormous respect for the human body while learning via dissection during Gross Anatomy 101. But it has been in practice with my hands touching hundreds of human bodies to bring resolution of pain or dysfunction that I have seen the power in touch. On a weekly basis I touch babies’ only weeks old, teenagers with their piercings and attitudes, convicted felons, middle-aged busybodies, and the soft wrinkled bodies of the old. I am often told, as a relative stranger, of their lives struggles, of their joys, and of whom they love. Physical touch has the power to disarm, to heal and to connect. Humans are made to be touched.

I held my first son as a new mother, stroking his head as he drifted in and out of sleep. To this day, my son will stroke his hair when tired, and reaches to stroke mine for comfort when he is tired, scared or angry. My youngest son’s desire for touch is so strong that he sleeps in physical contact with me all night long. Every morning I awake with a beautiful little boy on each side of me, with four little hands and sometimes little feet reaching out to connect physically. I believe strongly that it is consistent and kind human touch that empowers these little boys to go out in the world and be confident individuals. They are grounded at home by the positive power of human touch.

Leah Polack 2009