Company Blog

Hugs and I love you mans

by Adam Zack — December 26, 2018

How great is it to get a real hug from your brother without any uncomfortableness?

The 70s and 80s were pretty much emotionless decades. Actually, all the preceding decades were too. I don’t mean that there were no emotions, I mean that they just didn’t get shared publicly like today. When we were growing up, guys greeted each other with a handshake, or maybe a high-five. Our dads didn’t say “I love you” every time we talked on the phone. They rarely said it at all. Man-hugs were pretty much non-existent. Brothers didn’t express any affection, especially publicly. We loved our friends, brothers, sisters and dads just as much then as now, too.

Especially over this holiday period when I try and take a step back to take stock of all the things – and people – in my life that I love and am thankful for, I am especially thankful that it’s OK to show it and say it. How great is it to get a real hug from your brother without any uncomfortableness? To see male friends and be able to say I love you or I miss you without worrying that someone is thinking that you two are maybe a little more than “friends’? [Not that there’s anything wrong with that!] It’s especially tricky in today’s #metoo culture. Guys are just becoming comfortable expressing honesty in their emotions and public displays of affection, something that has taken centuries to evolve, and today’s uber-legal culture is going to push it back 30 years. Thanks a lot, Kevin Spacey. Hugs are good. I love ‘em, man.