Political theory helps explain this leap. Benedict Anderson’s *Imagined Communities* (1983) argues that nations cohere through shared narratives and rituals. Many of these rituals are manual: handshakes that seal trust, hands over hearts at a flag-raising, even ink-stained fingers in elections that affirm a collective future. Thus, the language of hands links private care to public covenant. When small victories are openly marked—restored wells, reopened schools, repaired roofs—the story of us strengthens. Love, then, is not merely a feeling but a choreography of gestures that teaches strangers to move in step. [...]
