143 – Fingers

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I like to walk on the beach. It is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

The day is cloudy, the wind is brisk, and the temperature is cool. At least it is warm enough that I’m not wearing gloves. After thinking about hands, my draft indicates hands and fingers should be separate topics – so fingers it is.

Fingers – those five bony, flexible extensions at the end of our hands known as digits, but referred to as thumbs, index, middle, ring, pinkie, pointer, little, and baby. We identify fingers by numbering them one to five from the outside while standing with our arms at our side and our palms facing forward. This means the thumb is the first digit … and yes, my inner science teacher is invading this walk.

Photo by Min An on Pexels.com

Do we have five fingers or four fingers and a thumb? After all, the thumb is a digit but is it a finger? You decide the answer.

Each digit lines up with a corresponding hand bone. Each has three bones, except for the thumb having only two.

Fingers are those bony extensions without muscles around them, which is a reason why they easily get cold. The muscles moving fingers are in the forearm. This is why I prefer wearing mittens on very-cold days at home – but gloves are fine here when necessary.

Fingers for handling, manipulating, counting, pointing, gripping, and caressing while possessing a sensitive sense of touch. Fingers are responsible for transforming thoughts from the brain through nerves to muscles so the fingers move to create words on paper by typing or writing.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com

Musicians use fingers to press and release the values of brass instruments. Fingers open and close the holes of woodwinds. Fingers pick, strum, stroke, and change the length of strings. Fingers hold drumsticks, guide a trombone slide, and artfully manipulate the keys of a keyboard. Fingers for holding an artist’s brush and a writer’s pencil.

Fingers that athletes use to handle a ball or control a grip. Fingers we all use for handling eating utensils, then even lick after holding something tasty. Everyone knows the Colonel’s chicken is finger-linkin’ good.

Fingers with a pattern of swirls, ridges, and whorls for personal identity we know as a fingerprint. These patterns that DNA determines are unique, durable, detailed, consistent, and difficult to change.

Fingers find a pulse, give a massage, scratch an itch, run through hair, or caress a loving face. We even cross our fingers for luck.

We use the tip of our fingers to detect touch. Think about how much we rely on touch in daily life. I think about how touch is a way we can differentiate with closed eyes – how touch is a way of communicating words to the blind – how fingers communicate to the deaf – how touch communicates emotion to a loved one.

I think about how we humans protect ourselves and use a finger to point blame – but forget three fingers point back at the accuser. Unfortunately, there are times when we count something with our fingers on one hand, but we shouldn’t confuse this with a five-finger discount.

I think about the jellyfish’s tentacles extending from its body with tips sensitive to touch, yet our fingers are much more capable of moving colors as we fingerpaint.

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

We can have itchy fingers, sticky fingers, butterfingers, snap our fingers, be all fingers and thumbs or just all thumbs – or give the finger – but beware if someone asks to pull their finger.

As my walk ends, I stand looking at the sea and wonder about the fingers in its world. I see a few dolphins passing by. Although their fingers are not like ours, human and dolphin bone structures are closer than many people realize.

It has been interesting thinking about fingers. As humans, we are all fingers on the same hand. We may not look alike, but we are all needed. Nonetheless, I’m glad to be here thinking as I walk on the beach because walking on the beach is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

Special thanks to Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland for introducing Yasmin Williams to me, the musical artist featured in the video.

See what other bloggers have posted about Fingers

• Baby Art (surprising finger-paint art by an 8-month-old)
• Young Fingers (a photo)
• Five Fingers Old (a poem)
• Yoga for Wrists, Hands, and Fingers (an essay)
• Hands (a past beach walk)
• Touch (a past beach walk)

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