2008 Woodie Awards
A comfortable protest
Nat Hillard, U-Wire
Issue date: 5/27/08 Section: Opinion
She ran into me in Balboa Park in San Jose. She was carrying a sign that said "free hugs"; I was carrying a rice cake. "Would you like a free hug?" she asked. And while naturally I questioned her motives, I nevertheless entered into the warm embrace, enveloped in gentle arms.
When the hug was over, I had to ask, "What is this? Why are you doing this?" Most things these days have strings attached, after all. She proceeded to tell me the story of her Movement, the Free Hugs Campaign. When it was all over, with my heartstrings pulled and my day now brighter, I walked on my merry way, wanting to join the Movement myself, to spread the love she had just shared with me. I had truly experienced a random act of kindness. Sometimes, I mused, it's the simple things in life that make it all better.
Or, rather, this is how the interaction would have gone if I were someone else. Instead of an unquestioning acceptance of a message that is perceived as universal and agreeable, I approached the situation with a healthy amount of skepticism.
For those of you who haven't been hug-mobbed in the park or seen the YouTube video about the Free Hugs Campaign, it is a movement started by Australian Juan Mann whose mission is to hug random people in public places. To quote the Web site, the goal of the hug movement is "making someone's day a little brighter, meeting people and showing the world that strangers aren't so bad after all." Furthermore, "It's also about bringing people together and sharing a happy moment before heading back out into the world feeling a little lighter."
This is an albeit paraphrased, but still complete, description of the movement. Its simplicity is its driving force: all people need is someone to approach them and show them that someone cares, and the world will become a brighter place.
We as a society have somehow gotten it into our heads that if something is simple, we shouldn't question it. But if you think about it, this statement is misguided at best and dangerous at worst.
When the hug was over, I had to ask, "What is this? Why are you doing this?" Most things these days have strings attached, after all. She proceeded to tell me the story of her Movement, the Free Hugs Campaign. When it was all over, with my heartstrings pulled and my day now brighter, I walked on my merry way, wanting to join the Movement myself, to spread the love she had just shared with me. I had truly experienced a random act of kindness. Sometimes, I mused, it's the simple things in life that make it all better.
Or, rather, this is how the interaction would have gone if I were someone else. Instead of an unquestioning acceptance of a message that is perceived as universal and agreeable, I approached the situation with a healthy amount of skepticism.
For those of you who haven't been hug-mobbed in the park or seen the YouTube video about the Free Hugs Campaign, it is a movement started by Australian Juan Mann whose mission is to hug random people in public places. To quote the Web site, the goal of the hug movement is "making someone's day a little brighter, meeting people and showing the world that strangers aren't so bad after all." Furthermore, "It's also about bringing people together and sharing a happy moment before heading back out into the world feeling a little lighter."
This is an albeit paraphrased, but still complete, description of the movement. Its simplicity is its driving force: all people need is someone to approach them and show them that someone cares, and the world will become a brighter place.
We as a society have somehow gotten it into our heads that if something is simple, we shouldn't question it. But if you think about it, this statement is misguided at best and dangerous at worst.
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