Making contact
There was a woman I read about a little while ago. She hugs people.
She came to Ireland, to offer hugs. And thousands of people came to line up and be hugged, one at a time. And I remember thinking: what a great deal of people who need a little affection. Who need it so much they would go to be hugged by a stranger.
And I also thought: I wish I had gone.
So that's why I pulled myself out of bed to stand on the main street of the capital in the biting cold yesterday. I can't speak for the others, I don't know why they came. But they did, and for a couple of hours we came together and hugged strangers in the street.
It was one of the most wonderful things I have ever done.
I hugged people from America, China, Japan, Nigeria, India, France, Uganda, England, Pakistan and Morrocco, policemen, street sellers, street-sweepers, tourists and day-trippers, the well-dressed and the barely-dressed, the old and the young, cuddling couples and overladen individuals. I bent over to be hugged by a three-year old in mittened hands, reached up on tiptoes to be held tightly by a boy with hobnail boots and pierced eyebrows. One girl and her friend came back again and again for more.
There's a moment, just after you offer to hug a complete stranger, when you don't know what will happen. Some will shake their heads and walk on, embarrassed or distrustful. But many, more than you would imagine, will dazzle you. Something drops away, and they smile and you smile and you both reach for each other in delight, just the sheer delight of recognising another person.
And then it's done, and you're not strangers at all anymore. And all you had to do was open your arms.
Why? some people asked.
I shrugged. Because it makes people happy, I told them.
I'm glowing still.
Here is the man that inspired us:
She came to Ireland, to offer hugs. And thousands of people came to line up and be hugged, one at a time. And I remember thinking: what a great deal of people who need a little affection. Who need it so much they would go to be hugged by a stranger.
And I also thought: I wish I had gone.
So that's why I pulled myself out of bed to stand on the main street of the capital in the biting cold yesterday. I can't speak for the others, I don't know why they came. But they did, and for a couple of hours we came together and hugged strangers in the street.
It was one of the most wonderful things I have ever done.
I hugged people from America, China, Japan, Nigeria, India, France, Uganda, England, Pakistan and Morrocco, policemen, street sellers, street-sweepers, tourists and day-trippers, the well-dressed and the barely-dressed, the old and the young, cuddling couples and overladen individuals. I bent over to be hugged by a three-year old in mittened hands, reached up on tiptoes to be held tightly by a boy with hobnail boots and pierced eyebrows. One girl and her friend came back again and again for more.
There's a moment, just after you offer to hug a complete stranger, when you don't know what will happen. Some will shake their heads and walk on, embarrassed or distrustful. But many, more than you would imagine, will dazzle you. Something drops away, and they smile and you smile and you both reach for each other in delight, just the sheer delight of recognising another person.
And then it's done, and you're not strangers at all anymore. And all you had to do was open your arms.
Why? some people asked.
I shrugged. Because it makes people happy, I told them.
I'm glowing still.
Here is the man that inspired us:
posted by Me at
7:30 AM
9 Comments:
This post made me cry, so beautiful!
By
Jade, at 2:47 PM
I read your post early and kept thinking about it. I cannot even imagine hugging strangers, going to be hugged by a stranger, what to do after.
By
Kristin, at 2:49 PM
i love hugs.
your posts often feel like nice big hugs.
if your real hugs are even half as nourishing as your ethereal ones then the world has officially been made a better place today.
By
amy, at 3:58 PM
This is amazing, because for several weeks I am been feeling like I was supposed to make a sign, a t-shirt or whatever, saying "Free Hugs" and go out to the mall or downtown to just let people know that I care. I had never seen it before, and then here is this video. Amazing.
By
Darrell, at 6:52 AM
This "hugged by strangers" thing is simultaneously uplifting and creepy. Mostly uplifting, but still a bit creepy.
It's a shame that, for really good reason, our parents drummed the whole "don't talk to strangers" thing into our heads from before we were old enough to even understand the words.
It makes society a cold place where we don't engage nearly often enough.
And it makes someone standing in Pitt St Mall with a Free Hugs sign create an empty circle around himself as effectively as any personal people deflector shield.
Though I did wonder, when I first saw this clip, how much more success he would have had if he'd been young, female and attractive.
By
Chester The Bear, at 7:24 AM
Hugs all round!
For anyone thinking about it, do it. Bring a few friends, stick a sign on your chest, and smile. It really takes nerve for the first few minutes, and then it's just so so easy. I promise you won't regret it.
Bear, being a girl did help ;) But one of the guys stood aside with all our belongings because he thought it might be a problem that he was a man... and people still came up and hugged him without him even asking.
By
me, at 4:08 AM
I began to think the guy in the video wasn't going to get any hugs and then that little lady wandered up and he got on his knees - thats when I lost it.
Living in the town where 5 young women have recently been murdered - its a place that could seriously do with some free hugs..
By
ML, at 1:26 AM
All it takes is one person to change the world.
By
identity crisis and, at 9:03 PM
i didn't expect to be so impacted by the video. it's made me feel vulnerable and warm. thanks. :)
By
septemberfive, at 9:44 PM
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