participate in the "free hugs" movement

two days ago, i was walking home from school, and there was a dude in a big plaid jacket standing on the side of the road holding a sign that said “need a hug but $$$ will do.” i was walking by and stopped, looked at him, and said, “do you really need a hug?” and he told me that we all need a hug, so we hugged.

about a week ago i saw a kid wearing a t shirt supporting the free hugs campaign. wild! i definitely regret not saying something to him. damn our social codes of non-interaction.

this goal has been on my 43things for months now, but i havent done an entry. if you arent familiar with the free hugs movement, you should check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4 . basically this guy wanders around holding a sign reading, “free hugs.” he hugs anyone who wants to be hugged. kind of cheesy, but somehow it holds a significance to me. i love the message: acceptance, love, peace, all that hippy stuff. free hugs has turned into a movement of sorts, with people doing it all over the globe. id love to do that sometime.

i think the movement has a deeper message to convey as well. depersonalization is everywhere nowadays. when we walk down the street, we avoid eye contact with eachother. we speak only prechewed conversations for fear of awkward silences. and heaven forbid, we can’t touch eachother. we all run around in our own separate universes with no real human interaction. so free hugs is kind of aiming to bring back the human element.