touch

Tonight I saw a very short film about a camp for youth with AIDS. The film was talking about the dehumanization and humanization of AIDS victims, and how the camp was a place of acceptance. The ways they seemed to be trying to do this at the camp were through touch and just having fun, and I thought that was super interesting. I've realized that when I dislike someone, I'm really reluctant to touch them, because touching them will mean I accept their humanity, and that I have to accept them in some way. I've also noticed my own reluctance to let people touch me when I'm sick or contagious or cosmetically off or feel weird about my own body. I imagine this issue becomes even more important to a person when they're suffering from a disease like AIDS. But I think that touching someone has a lot to do with choosing to not be afraid of them any longer, and that's one of the reasons why touch is so important. I think it's really significant that in the gospels Jesus often chooses to touch the people he's healing.