Tyranny of Handshakes

When Kid came back home from her freshman year, she will stick out her fist and yelled, “Pound.” I soon learned the protocol. I would bump my knuckles with hers and “pound” back. I fathomed “pound” was the new high-five.

Obama and Michelle made it a national craze when they pounded on stage on June 3rd of 2008. That act created the National Fist Bump Day.

According to Cary Darling of Star-Telegram.com, a Norwegian immigrant Thomas Sandberg first started promoting fist bumps to free American from the tyranny of handshakes. Do we really have to exchange germs and other bodily articfacts as part of the greeting ritual? Do we really have to touch each others?

Many cultures learned this tyranny only recently. Chinese traditionally greet each other by wrapping the left hand around the right-hand fist. Indians and Thai press their palms in front of them and bow a little. Japanese bow to each other, sometime deeply. They all seem to come to accept handshaking as part of the standard business greeting ritual, together with their traditional ones. The thing is, Americans do not have an alternative, traditional greeting ritual. Handshaking and, occassionally, hugging are the only ones.

Now we can add fist bumping. At least until something else becomes the new fist bump.

ps: Yes, I remembered what happened 20 years ago.

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