On Tuesday, while attending Nelson Mandela's funeral, President Obama shook Cuban President Raul Castro's hand, and created a media firestorm. Many politicians and prominent media attacked the move, saying that it was a sign of Obama backing down against Cuba, and that Obama should not have shook hands with Castro because he was a "thug" and was denying Cubans basic freedoms. While I agree that Castro either needs to change many things about the way he runs Cuba or be put out of power, I cannot comprehend why the handshake was such a big deal. They were at a funeral, where you're supposed to put aside your differences for a short while to celebrate someone's life. It's not like they were agreeing on anything, they were just being polite. Also, they were at the funeral of Nelson Mandela, a man who devoted his life to fighting for basic freedoms and for reconciling his country. To bring up disagreements and to fight at the funeral would have been hugely disrespectful to Mandela's legacy.
The media and many politicians are forgetting about the times where US presidents shook hands with dictators and terrorists, like Nixon did with Fidel Castro, or when Reagan shook hands with Spanish dictator Generalisimo Francisco Franco. Honestly, a handshake is a way of greeting someone, and it shows that you are grown up enough to at least show some respect, and are not childish enough to bicker and not put aside differences for a short while. A handshake does not mean that you support someone or agree with what they are doing. All of this talk is just distracting people from what's really important: coming together to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela.
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