The Free Hugs Report

“Free Hugs” signs went up this morning in Madison, Wisconsin at the Capital building downtown during the busy farmers’ market.

The weather was a beautiful 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky.

My step-son Eddie and I spent about two hours walking the perimeter of the market while Firecrow played photographer.

Jump for more hugs:

When I first came across the You Tube video:

I cried at the beauty of the idea.  Why not?  Free hugs.  What a great idea to boost everyone’s seratonin level. 
Firecrow & I discussed organizing an outing and, like with many things, life takes over, responsibilities, etc…..

Then:

I needed to conduct an Experience project for college.  I thought about the Free Hugs Campaign immediately.  I had always wondered what would happen if we did this.  This morning I found out.

We started receiving “customers” right away; our first was this older gay couple who were sitting by a light post resting when we pulled out our signs to begin.  Their faces lit up and we got our first hugs.
Eddie & I spent about five minutes talking to them; one of the gentleman has cuts and bruises on his face and explained to us how he had been beaten up the night before.  He certainly had needed a hug and he thanked us for sharing ours with him.

As we continued on, we experienced an array of responses, ranging from smiles to laughter to amazement to razed eyebrows.

Interestingly enough, the three of us all had different perceptions of our adventure.

Eddie walked about twenty feet ahead of me and found the students, teenagers and college students, along with the elderly flocked to him the most.

My experience walking just a bit behind Eddie yielded 30, 40 and 50 somethings and people wanting me to hug their babies.

We both found that people seemed very fascinated with the project and wanted their picture taken with us.

Some people wanted group hugs:

Firecrow had a revealing take on the whole process as he played observer the entire time while snapping pics.  He saw how many people, intrigued by what we were doing, hesitating….then asking for a hug, while others talked with their companions about us, each prompting the other to “just go ahead”.
He also witnessed people who were reluctant while we walked past, suddenly turn around and head towards us.  One college student even came full charge across the Capital lawn just to “attack” Eddie.  It was great to watch!

There were only a couple incidents that you could catagorize as negative, if not, bizarre.

One man, around 60 years old, while openly wanting and receiving two hugs from me at separate times was pleasant, put up his arm when Eddie came near, not wanting to be touched, doing the same to Firecrow, although he did shake his hand.

One woman exclaimed that she gets “plenty of hugs and doesn’t need any more” while another woman demanded to know what “organization” we were with before she would receive a hug.  I asked, “What do you mean “organization”?”  She demanded, “Why are you   doing this?”  I retorted, “Why not?  She hugged me then.

Some people even asked us if it was a gimmick of some kind or wondering if the free hugs were really free.

All in all it was an awesome experience; my face hurts from smiling, Firecrow is taking a nap and Eddie thanked us for inviting him to come along……he wants to go back and do it again.

Its important to note that doing something like this does raise the other person’s seratonin level in the brain, doing it does the same for you and people witnessing the act of kindness and a hug does the same also for someone even if they are mearly observing the act. 

Hugging-it makes you feel better.

Peace.