I was in the London Hyde Park when a man holding a banner with "FREE HUGS" written on it passed by. I made one step back for a second wondering what this guy wanted to say. At the time, I did not know about the Free Hugs Compaign, but then when I was back in Tunisia I read about it somewhere.
The idea that someone you do not know may be offering you a hug regardless of your gender, age, skin colour, looks, etc. may seem a bit awkward if taken at face value, especially in a muslim country if the two huggers are of different genders (amazingly the opposite may be considered weired in the west. Can a male hug a male? I know this is commonplace now in the West, but is everybody positive on it?)
The thing is that, today, in this ugly, shallow, and materialistic world no body feels safe. The rat race imposed on us by us, by our conditioning is turning us into very ugly monsters. We no longer trust our neighbours. How many of us salute neighbours in the morning? How many of us are ready to give a day's work for somebody who is in despearate need of something? How many of us are happy for others' success?
This monster haunting us. Our fear of others's success. Our envy of others' success. Who said: man is merely and exclusively a wolf to his brother man? HE IS.
This is why hugs (and may be love) are sought after in the most unlikely places. We are ready to hug a starnger simply because he / she is not a an immediate threat to us being the best of all!!!! I know for sure that the person passing by is despearte for a hug. May be the spouse or the partner or the friend or whomsoever was not much of a hugger, and the hug is by now a kind of ritual we all must share simply and only because we have done so for years.
This campaign for free hugs best illustrates our collective need for a look within and our collective failure as human beings.
