Life Necessities

We all know that the basics necessities of life are food, clothing and shelter, but are those enough to survive and thrive? Most people would say yes, that good, nutritious food will keep our bodies healthy and relatively disease free. Clothing will keep our bodies warm during inclement weather and shelter will provide us with respite at the end of a long day.

While I agree that our physical body is in dire need of all three at a consistent rate, I submit that life necessities are far and varied depending on our intellect, aspirations, dreams and hopes. There is no doubt that the above mentioned basics are a solid foundation to build upon, but they are hardly sufficient to promote a thriving environment that promotes mental stimulation and personal growth.

While we may enjoy our surroundings, we quickly get accustomed to them because as stated earlier, they are basic needs but they are incomplete. From the beginning of time, human beings have needed the most basic thing of all; Human Touch. It is through human touch that we learn to trust, to communicate, to love, and to grow.

Basic Psychology courses introduced us to monkey studies in which food and shelter were not enough to develop a healthy brain, or to develop skills to thrive. The lack of touch fostered fears, anger, violence and mistrust, which in any society is a dangerous component in just a few individuals, but if widespread, it has the potential to create a society in which mistrust, isolation and depression reign supreme.

No matter how much we value our private time or occasional solitude; we are social animals and can't thrive as healthy adults without the human touch. Even the most repressed members of our society need to be among others to talk, to watch, and to learn. Additional studies have shown that insufficient human touch and ability to express thoughts and feelings have contributed to clinical depression and suicide in far greater numbers than anything else studied.

As an example, I would like to "pick" on a society that is famous for their reserve in both private and public settings, their fierce loyalty to personal boundaries, personal respect and civility.

Years ago, I saw a report on Scandinavian society and learned that public displays of affection are a source of discomfort and direct eye contact is considered a sign of rudeness or aggression, also Scandinavians have one of the highest rates of suicide of any industrialized nation. A vicious cycle

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