Free Hugs campaign

Ours is a disconnected society - personally anyway. At the same time, we're becoming increasingly aware of just how connected we are economically, politically, & environmentally across the globe. But these connections seem to happen at the same time as we become more and more disconnected on a personal level.

It's a given now that we don't talk to people we don't know (i.e., strangers!) on the street - which is especially odd in large cities where millions of people are constantly walking past one another, but with no personal connection - no conversations, few "hello!"s, rare eye contact, and certainly no hugs! We sometimes wear headphones so we can legitimize ignoring people. Even at the grocery store, you can go through the self-check out and not even have to interact with another human being.

Along comes this guy, starting his "free hugs" campaign. The word "free" is known as one of the greatest selling points in advertising - along with babies and puppies - advertise something for free, and you'll get business. So here's a guy standing on the street holding up a sign that says "Free Hugs". When a friend of mine sent this to me, he said "I ran across Jesus today". He just may be right.

The video follows this man on a social journey of sorts as he holds up his sign offering "free hugs" to complete strangers. It's interesting to see what happens and how people react to his offer. It's amazing what a simple hug can do when we break down these personal barriers we've set up between ourselves, in large part constructed on a foundation of mistrust. Instead of "I don't trust you", a hug says "I have faith in you".



Ok, so maybe you might think giving out hugs to complete strangers is a bit over the top, and you could never do that. I'll be honest - I don't know if I could do it either. How about a simple smile and a hello? Or getting to know the names of the strangers in our lives that we see every day? That I can do.