Bad day?

On Monday I was walking down the street at lunch, enjoying music on my ipod.

In the town where I work, there are a lot of goofy people. This is California, after all. We've got our share of homeless, some deranged, lots of anti-war protesters and environmentalists with petitions, and some serious individualists running around. Being a woman who embraces her feminity, I get a few aggressive comments now and then from low-lives who hang out on corners asking for donations to support their chillin' lifestyle. I used to be a little afraid of it all when I first came back here almost two years ago, despite my former hardened confidence on the streets of the San Francisco financial district.

But this time it was different. This guy came down the sidewalk, looking like your average young twentysomething college student, in long shorts and a basic white tee shirt and sunglasses, holding a sign in front of him:

"FREE HUGS"
I wanted to laugh, but it also made me wonder, in typical jaded city-think. If I smiled, would he come at me? Was he creepy? Tired of people looking past one another as if they're not there? Doing a research experiment for his psychology class? Just looking to shake things up a bit? He came in handy later, though. I was walking with one of my good friends, who'd had a really rough day, and I saw the guy again. "Hey!" I poked her. "He's giving out free hugs! Maybe you need one of those today."

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't get it at first. So I started teasing her a little more loudly, letting the guy know he'd been noticed. My friend stopped and looked, and the guy was cruising away down the block, holding the sign aloft for her to see above heads of passers-by.

Sometimes we just need to be snapped out of our funk by something out of the ordinary.

But as I was writing this, I decided to do a little background research. And voila: a worldwide movement. And Monday, September 10th, was one of several "International Free Hugs Days".

http://www.free-hugs.com/welcome.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Hugs_Campaign

Not bad. Wish I'd known that. Better luck next time.






p.s. I know, it's just another silly GenX or GenY thing. Hugs without consequences. But on the other hand... it's another drop in the bucket toward a little human understanding. I like it.