This past weekend I was looking at emails and ran across a video of a man walking up to people on the street and asking them for a hug. I have included the short video below, but you will see every person he encountered on the street walked out of their way way to get around him. The video then cut to a shot of the same man asking to hug a homeless person. Each homeless person he encountered gladly hugged him back. At first I didn’t think much of the video but later that afternoon I was laying around the house not doing anything in particular.
I am part of a parish teen group and each year at Christmas we participate in an annual Christmas Carol and Gift Exchange with a group of developmentally challenged women from St. Mary of Providence, www.smopchicago.org.
I just didn’t feel like getting off the couch, but I ended up driving down to the facility located on the Northwest side of the city. Each year I supply the Santa outfit for one of the teen boys to wear and hand out the gifts. This year I forgot the beard, belt and boots and as I arrived the teens said that I had to wear the outfit because I was the only one with a grey beard – I fit the part.
Well, as I walked out into the gym I had over 90 woman wanting to see me. Some talked very softly about what they wanted, a couple dropped off letters, but every person came up to me and hugged me. I was grinning from ear to ear. What a gift! And just hours before I was acting like those people in the video not wanting to engage. A simple smile or a simple hug is such any easy thing to do and that small act gives so much joy to those giving – and those receiving – the HUG.
As you can tell from the photos I had a great afternoon. What a great way to get into the Christmas season!
