PROLOGUE

LET’S START WITH A HANDSHAKE. YOU take my hand and I’ll help you create the life you have always dreamed about.

“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the Beatles’ first hit, and today the best electronic device is still a handheld. The brain reaches out to the hand and the hand reaches out to the world.

The hand has its hand in everything. Being hands on excites us; being hands off incites us. “All hands on deck” is a call for help. “Biting the hand that feeds you” is called betrayal. To know someone firsthand is an act of caring. To force someone’s hand is an act of daring.

Having a free hand liberates you; being handcuffed is arresting. To gain the upper hand is to have control, and to get your hands dirty is to have a task. To give a hand is to help. To give a guiding hand is to give hope. They usually go hand in hand.

To be in good hands is to be safe. A hand-me-down is saved. We work hand over fist to make a living. We hand in our best work when we work hand in glove.

Every day we hand something off, something on, something out, and something over. We might even hand something to someone on a silver platter.

When you are appreciated you will hear, “I have to hand it to you.” When we are exhausted we say our hands are full. To be an old hand is an honor. To play into someone’s hands is dishonor. To wash your hands of something is to throw in the towel, but when one hand washes the other we have community.

If only we were all on hand, the world wouldn’t be so out of hand and underhanded. We would not throw our hands up, be heavy handed, or overplay our hand. Many people would not be living hand to mouth and taking the law into their own hands. Often it appears that the left hand does know what the right hand is doing. God only knows that the devil makes work for idle hands.

On the other hand, if we were to take a show of hands, most of us would take someone by the hand and get to know them like the back of our hand. We would move from a put-your-hands-up world to a raise-your-hand society where we all ask just one question: How can I lend a hand?

Answer that, and you’ll have the whole world in your hands.