The more I think about it, I realize that I should have given that stranger a hug. What did I really have to lose in the situation? Very little. In all actuality, I stood to benefit from the exchange. The hug was completely free and I walked right on past it.

What sort of fool would pass on a completely free deal?

I trust that there were no loopholes or issues hidden in the fine print. Could you image that? A stranger holding a sign that clearly advertises "Free Hugs" and then discovering a hidden charge were you owe said stranger a lunch, a movie, or a night on the town. How absolutely silly an idea that would be.

And I trust that the stranger was trustworthy enough to warrant a hug. Now that would be the scheme of an ultimate evil mastermind. Lure in your prey with a "Free Hugs" sign and then carry them off into the darkness where they would be held for ransom. Then I could really see myself feeling like an idiot. Sitting in some dungeon with other victims of the "Free Hugs" trap. "So you fell for the free hug too?" one of the other prisoners would ask me. "What kind of person would do this to another human being?" I would shout at the top of my lungs. "I can't stay here any longer, I need to see my daughter," the man in the business suit with the scruffy beard would scream.

There was nothing to stop me from taking that twenty-something-year-old boy up on his offer for a free hug. But what stopped me from walking right on past him? Could it have been some social idea of masculinity that urged me to walk by him with my chest puffed out like some sort of 1920's beach bound weight lifter? Was it the ethnographer in me that made me feel like it was some kind of social experiment and since I sensed this, did I feel that I could not participate? "Another male has walked past our subject," would whisper the girl hiding in the bushes as she records the data on a clipboard.

In everyday life, I am a huger. If I run into a friend or a good acquaintance on the streets, my first inclination is to give that person a hug. I know that this seems awkward to some, but it is the kind of person that I am. I'm full of affection and love and I cannot help but express this emotion publicly. I laugh extremely hard whenever I see a skit on the "Tim and Eric Awesome show" called the snuggler, because in some sort of way I find myself identifying with the protagonist. When asked if you could have one superhuman ability, you never someone say that they want the power to snuggle people back to health. One often hears the power of invisibility, strength, or even telepathy. Even I have gone record as saying that I would have the power of flight, but deep down, I know that I want to just snuggle people until they back to 100%. People can't say this sort of thing out loud though. Laughter and humiliation would meet the person who would speak this feeling. That is why the idea of the Snuggler only works as a comedy sketch. Can you image it as a serious drama on CBS or NBC? "This week, on the Snuggler, our hero finds himself at ground zero. Can one man snuggle a country back from its greatest injury? Find out this Thursday, following a brand new episode of Walker: Texas Ranger."

I am left with this question in my belly of why I would walk right past a person who was merely giving out hugs on a completely free basis. I suppose it is something that everyone could ask themselves. What kind of person are you? Are you the type of person that can you find the time in your busy life to stop and give a complete stranger a hug? Are you the sort of person that would simply disregard this stranger without even batting an eyelash? Or are you the kind of person that should have stopped for a moment and expressed the overwhelming affection that exists in your being, and instead, questioned your own nature and walked right pass this stranger in a show of rejection of your impulses?

Go ahead, ask yourself this question.

The Genius Of The Crowd
Charles Bukowski

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art