No way! It is part of culture! When people talk about untidiness, germs, disease and the like, very many things come to my mind, but none of them is the handshake. A handshake is a kind and warm gesture to imply that somebody respects you; it is more common than all other forms of greeting, such as, a kiss, a hug or a bow.When someone holds out their hand for you to shake, it is very rude to ignore them; whether you simply bow in return or offer them a hug, they will think that something is not right when you refuse to shake their hand. I understand that some people no longer want to shake hands because they think it will transfer germs from one hand to another, but I tell you, if you are bent on being that creepy by ridiculing our usual lifestyle, I bet you are going to miss out on several important things in life. Shaking hands has been embedded in our society for a very long time. When a farmer left his garden and met a stranger, he didn’t have to first wash his soiled hands in order to greet. He happily stuck out his hand to the stranger who in turn gladly shook it with all his strength. They then went home together and the stranger would be served with lunch, which he feasted on after washing his hands. This underlines the importance of being polite to people. Nevertheless, our society is full of proud and arrogant people, who will just ignore you when you want to shake their hand. All this pride stems from the belief that your hand is dirty and theirs in clean. So, by denying you a handshake, they believe that they will not be contaminated by the filth in your hands. However, does this meanness save us from falling sick? Of course not! Germs can be picked from as many places as you can imagine. They can pick dirt from a supposedly clean fork while they had a meal, from a cup of milk or from even holding cash. Does this mean that we should avoid holding money or stop using forks to eat? Your guess is as good as mine. There are some things that are too important to simply drop out of our lives. Everybody wants to avoid sickness as much as possible, but it should not be to the detriment of politeness and good cultural values like shaking someone’s hands. To avoid germs and falling sick, all you have to do is wash your hands, take a bath, clean your clothes… oh and brush your teeth too, lest you vow never to kiss. When enemies become friends, the first thing they do is shake hands, when your boss is pleased with you, before he raises your pay, he will first seek to firmly shake your hand—this is simply how things are done. Now I dare you to tell your former enemy that, “we can be friends but I won’t shake your hand because I think it’s dirty!” or tell your boss, “Thanks for the pay rise but no thanks to the handshake.” I dare you! Let’s not blow things out of proportion, a handshake does not hurt. Greet whoever wants to greet you and life will become as simple as you want it to be. mugishaivan@yahoo.com
