OK so if you have been reading my blog for any length of time, I have probably already thoroughly established that for a big tough dominant chick, I have a decidedly mushy “woo woo” side to me. I mean it is not all cruel <but fun> sadistic whips, chains and humiliation all the time with me.  The fact is, my heart is very easily touched by the human side of humanity. 

I have shared this, Free Hugs, for a long time on my My Space page. In fact it is the ONLY video that I have ever bothered to post there and it is the first one that I feel strongly enough to post here.  I can honestly say that it is absolutely my favorite video I have ever seen on the web, and I guess a few other folks liked it too because it won video of the year on You Tube last year.  And yes it can still choke me up and make me cry almost every time I see it. 🙂 

The Free Hugs Campaign  seems to have completely lost it’s steam  (last time I checked their website was dead) but if you poke around a bit you will see that the movement had spread to quite a few other countries as people took to the streets “holding their cards out in hand”. 

I love the concept but admit that there is little chance of it seriously taking hold these days in any real way. Hell, many people barely acknowledge each others existance when sitting next to you on a plane for 3 hours and God forbid the person across from you on a sub way seat catches you looking at them and you smile rather than immediately look away.  It can lead to some incredibly awkward moments or worse.  So call me an idealist, (even if only the stray reader that stumbles across this blog is the only one that knows), but sometimes I wish I was brave enough to go stand out in Poughkeepsie square with a “Free Hugs” sign, even if only to make one strangers day a little brighter.