...trudging into the distance in the bleeding stinking mad shadow of Jesus...the Lord out of dust had created him, had made him blood and nerve and mind, had made him to bleed and weep and think, and set him in a world of loss and fire... --Flannery O'Connor
1.08.2009
The Free Hugs Campaign: Things I'm Interested In (Installment #5)
As of this writing, 36,518,483 people have viewed the Free Hugs Campaign (official website here, Wikipedia article here) video on YouTube. I got curious about the Free Hugs Campaign last semester when I ran into (and got a free hug) from some Free Hug Campaigners in our campus center.
For regular readers who think I'm cynical and cerebral you'll be shocked to know that I am, in some way I can't describe, actually touched by the Free Hug idea. (It's the same part of me that likes this WalMart video.)
Actually, I'm in two minds about Free Hugs. A part of me thinks it's kind of odd, sentimental, needy, and corny. I'm always wondering about the motivation of the person giving the hugs.
But there is another part of me, the part that knows how much heart crushing loneliness there is in this world, that loves the simple humanity of the idea. This is particularly the case when I see people imitate the idea. For example, here is a young man in Mexico holding up his Abrazos Gratis sign:
You can see 882 more videos like this on YouTube.
For my hard bitten and cynical readers, I'll be back next week. But for day, well, how about a free hug?
I think the very fact that (probably) so many of us feel a bit crusty about the whole idea is a good enough reason for its existence :)
ReplyDeleteI saw some young guys on the other side of a busy road a couple of days before Christmas with a Free Hugs sign, and if I wasn't in a hurry I reckon I might possibly have gone across the road and hugged them. And it would have probably made me go all mushy and sentimental, and my inner Crusty Bitch would have got all worked up :)