13 is the new 18

As a recovering touch-me-not, germaphobe, xenophobe, and NJ-aphobe, I found this NYTs article about high school kids in, you guessed it, NJ, particularly interesting. Apparently mothers and teachers alike are seriously concerned about teenagers' proclivity for physical touch, specifically the hug.

From the article:

Comforting as the hug may be, principals across the country have clamped down. “Touching and physical contact is very dangerous territory,” said Noreen Hajinlian, the principal of George G. White School, a junior high school in Hillsdale, N.J., who banned hugging two years ago.

That sounds about right. Hugging is dangerous. Lest our daughters become too attached to their BFFs and our sons become.... well you know... So, of course, the logical, Vulcan response, if you will, of banning hugging all together is certainly the appropriate one.

Maybe society does mirror television and video games too much. Kids who grew up watching Full House and playing Nintendo as the Princess formerly known as Daisy, couldn't stand themselves anymore and went on to become more violent school-shooting pre-teens. On the other hand, today's kids were witness to 8 seasons of Emmy-Award winning Sopranos programming on HBO, and like Tony and his Italian-American pals, can't enter a room without hugging five other dudes.

It all reminds me, and Neil I'm sure, of The Kiss Hello. In this classic episode of Seinfeld, Kramer decides the building would be more friendly if there were pictures of every tenant in the entryway. This of course leads to an invasive, hyperoral society neither Jerry nor myself could possibly tolerate. Eventually tensions build, and in this famous scene they reach a climax...