A baby cries in the other room, and the mother rises from her chair.  Picking up the child and cradling him in her arms, she watches the tears disappear as he returns to blissful sleep.

Husband and wife pull up in the drive, exhausted from the trying day.  One had an angry boss, while the other a canceled client; and both had two hours overtime.  He reaches out to her at the door and in one embrace, work seems a million miles away.

Unable to talk, unable to sit up, the shriveled old woman lies alone in her nursing home bed.  A great-granddaughter enters the room, reaches across the sheets, and grasps her listless hand in a friendly "hello," and floods the woman's body with the warmth and vitality she knew in younger years.

The one binding factor that all of mankind has in common, regardless of sex, age, or religion, is the need for human touch.  From birth, an innate sense of calm and peace is derived from the tender caresses of a parent.  And in moments of joy, fear, or solitude, there is no synthetic substitute for a reassuring hand to hold or arms to embrace.

Today's society has unfortunately drifted from its primordial urge to touch and be touched.  Fax machines, computers, and phones make it all too easy to communicate without ever making physical contact.  And along with the natural stresses of the day come the added tension of isolation, from concentration on work to the exclusion of personal contact that is so vital to health.