Free Hugs Last Night 05/29/10

After a long and merry day of gathering more material for this blog, I ran into a number of Free Hug participants at Union Square, where a man asked if I wanted to be hugged. I responded: "Sure, a hug sounds nice."

The hug was real sugar, it was none of that Sweet 'n Low business. When we separated Mr. Free Hugs moved on to another person, a twenty-something looking fellow. I stood there and watched. When they separated, Mr. Free Hugs said, "I love you," and he meant it, or he said it with meaning. Mr. Twenty-something soaked that in for half a moment then said, "Thank you. I really needed that." And that is when I said, "I need another hug," which lead to us talking.

Mr. Free Hugs is Yoav Broza. Yoav is an Israeli who is currently working at NBC for the next three months. (He's a computer guy.) He doesn't have many friends in Nyc, which is what caused him to join the Free Hugs movement.

Since the man in charge of Free Hugs Nyc was there Yoav asked if I wanted to meet him. I said yes, and followed him over to Solomon Seagal. Solomon explained how this movement is essentially trying to dole out love to a lonely city, that city being Nyc. I'm not so sure if I agree with him on that. I think everything is what you make it to be.

But, something was said that struck me in a not so soft manner....When I asked: Has anyone ever cried after receiving a hug? (I got.) "Yes. I hear stories almost everyday of people who have broken down and started crying. Lots of people get very emotional. The story I heard today was that somebody got hugged who did not get hugged since their mother died." Because people don't really touch a lot anymore. "No they do not." That's why pets are important.

That's why I wrote this, because I think there's something there.

Nyc can be a lonely place for those who don't get the knack of making new friends. It's like any dorming experience, if you don't make connections, you aren't going to have an okay time.

And as for the physical contact -- Yeah, I guess everyone could do that a little more. Everyone meaning, this is not a Nyc problem. This is a larger problem than that. I'm not exactly sure how large it is.

And, and....If anyone knows any decent Kosher restaurants get back to me.

Tomorrow I write about La Esquina so stay tuned.