Dinner and a Movie - Research Packet
Touch
Part 1 “’We raise our children in a nontactile society and have to compensate with nonhuman creatures. First with teddy bears and blankets, then with pets. When touch isn’t there, our true isolation comes through.’ Touching is just as therapeutic as being touched; the healer, the giver of touch, is simultaneously healed.” (Ackerman 121) We are raised to appreciate these kinds of relationships, to foster them. When we are robbed of such a vital connection, as Ackerman writes, ‘our true isolation comes through.’ Pets keep us ignorant of the boxed in lives that we live, giving us a small taste of tactile connection to the real world, even from a young age. This is especially true for those with mental illness such as anxiety or depression. A pet can be a friend on the bad days and a companion on the best, something to come home to, more reliable than most human connections. A routine that is followed every day, mindlessly as we feed, care for and groom them. The grave of a
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