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Aleigh

Editor at Skirt!

I am: a doggie mom, a not-so-newlywed, a Scrabble enthusiast, a meticulous speller, a world traveler, and the editor of the Charlotte edition of skirt! (Not usually all at once.) When I'm not writing about Charlotte's coolest women, you can find me cheering on my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, tryi...

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Hug It Out

If you were in uptown Charlotte a few weekends ago, you might have come across a small group of people advertising free hugs.

That’s right. Free hugs.

Like me, you probably would have smiled. But would you have taken them up on their offer of a hug for free, with no strings attached?

I did.

“Free hugs? What a bargain!” I said.

“Would you like one?” asked the lone woman of the group. I was happy to see that the hug-givers weren’t all men, because as a newlywed, it’s probably not a good idea for me to be going around getting free, extramarital hugs on the streets of Charlotte. Especially if my husband is nearby. I’m just saying.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to go for it.

“I would love a hug,” I said. I just couldn’t say no, even though, truth be told, I’m not much of a hugger. But it’s not every day that a perfect stranger offers you a hug.

Now I know that the group of huggers I met wasn’t the first of its kind—the “Free Hugs Campaign,” as it’s now called, began with a man in Sydney, Australia named Juan Mann, who arrived in his hometown airport without a soul to greet him. As he watched the airline passengers around him one-by-one become engulfed in hugs from family and friends, his spirits fell. After a few moments of self-pity, he got some cardboard and a marker, and made a sign. Then, he found the busiest pedestrian intersection in his city and held up his sign, with the words “Free Hugs” on both sides.

It worked. After about 15 minutes, Mann got his first customer—a woman whose dog had died that morning. Then, a woman who told him about her only daughter, who had died on that very morning one year before. Sometimes, it seems, a hug is all we need to give us the strength to keep going.

Since that day, the Free Hugs Campaign has gone global—there are huggers all over the world, including the United States, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, the U.K., Africa, and even the Middle East. If you want to be a hugger, all it takes is a little organization (and a quick check that your hugging efforts won’t get you arrested—make sure local laws don’t prohibit free hugs before organizing a group of your own). You can find other interested huggers in your area by visiting Mann’s web site, www.freehugscampaign.org.

I’d like to say thanks to that brave group of huggers I met a few weekends ago. I walked away from my hug grinning. As I waited to cross the street, holding hands with my husband, I watched other people walk by the group of huggers. Although their hugs were valiantly offered, no one else took advantage of a chance to get up close and personal with a stranger.

What a shame. Mine was lovely.