How To Give The Last Manly Handshake

It’s not only avoiding the virus. It’s about ending the plague of toxic masculinity.

The question is not how we can get back to the normal since it was normal that got us into this mess. The right question to ask is how can we go forward toward something more gentle and kinder.

About 65 years ago, when I was 7 years old my Dad gave me a hard-black rubber ball. It was the kind he and his buddies used to play racquetball. He gave me the ball and added the following injunction: “A man is judged by how hard he can shake hands. Start squeezing this 100 times a day and build up your grip. Then you can shake hands like a real man.”

And I did. My grip became fearsome and manly. It was a contact sport and I was determined to win every contest. If you had a limp or soft handshake it was a dead giveaway about your choice of lifestyle. And it was not a good choice. And when I became a parent, I passed the ball to my son …

And then a few months ago it all stopped when shaking hands became a germ expressway for transmitting the novel coronavirus. I don’t remember who that last handshake was with. At the time I had no idea it would be the end of an era.

The timeout for a custom that started over 2,900 years ago gave me a chance to reflect. When did handshaking become the default greeting for…