I meet a lot of people in my job, it is one of the reasons I love it so much.
But things are changing on how we meet people. It used to always be that you would greet someone with a handshake. My parents taught me that when you meet someone, you extend your hand, look them in the eye and give a firm handshake.
It is a pretty widely-spread and accepted tradition, although some countries or customs may do it slightly differently, it is has been the norm for centuries.
In fact, there is an artifact from the nintth century depicting a king shaking hands with another king. There are also archaeological ruins and ancient texts that show that handshaking was practiced in ancient Greece as early as the fifth century BC.
Most people use their right hand however scouts will use their left as a gesture of trust, a practice which originated when the founder of the movement, then a British cavalry officer, met an African tribesman.
However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, when no one touched either other, things have changed. Some people are still wary of shaking hands and spreading germs. And that is a fair feeling. Now when I meet people for the first time, I simply ask, are we shaking hands? Most people will say yes. but I like to be respectful and offer up a little wave instead for those who are hesitant.
During the height of the pandemic, some organizations advocated and held campaigns on different ways to greet each other, like bumping elbows instead of handshaking.
Toe-tapping was also suggested but I am not sure that ever caught on.
Some people say that even just bumping fists is less likely to spread germs.
When world politicians started meeting in person again post-pandemic, I felt like the media had a hay day analyzing the weird ways they would greet each other or fumble over an elbow bump.
But where do we go from here? Social norms and cues are changing and everyone is moving along at their own pace.
New research is saying that another pandemic in our lifetime is possible, so maybe we should figure out a new greeting before that happens.
The study found that the probability of a pandemic with a similar impact to COVID-19 is about two per cent in any year. This means that the probability of experiencing a pandemic similar to COVID-19 in one’s lifetime is about 38 per cent.
So maybe handshaking is falling to the wayside.
But old habits die hard, and you can’t always teach an old dog new tricks so maybe it is just easiest to leave the problem of how to greet each other to the next generation.
Heaven knows we can’t look to politicians to figure this one out.
READ MORE: Look but don’t touch
@MariscaDekkema
marisca.bakker@interior-news.com
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