Hugs, yo. They be good.
So, as of late, I've developed this weird habit... sometimes when I'm walking, I see someone who looks sad, or is sitting looking down, or things like that. I've started to walk to them and ask them the simplest thing ever: "Do you need a hug?"
I've gotten some good responses, but this one is the best:
On Tuesday evening, I was walking to the Emeryville Trader Joe's to meet V. On my way down from the railroad crossing doohickey, I saw a young man sitting on the sidewalk, back bent, arms draped on his knees, looking at the ground. He didn't look particularly sad or upset, but his body language wasn't positive.
I walked up to him and smiled down. "Would you like a hug?"
He looked up at me disbelievingly, then began to laugh. "Wow, that's just so weird!" I smiled and sat down.
"What's weird?"
"Well, I've been kind of questioning my faith in God and stuff recently, and yesterday I got home from work and was feeling pretty bad about it, and I kind of reached out and said, 'God, if you're there, I could really use a hug.'"
At this, I grinned. "Well, the response came a bit late, sorry about that. But He gets to you in the end."
This young man (I think his name was Zane) and I just sat and talked a bit -- his close friend called him and he had me talk to him just to prove I was for real -- and then V came along.
Zane said the greatest thing ever to the man who needed to hear it most (IMHO):
"Don't ever let go of this one."
I've gotten some good responses, but this one is the best:
On Tuesday evening, I was walking to the Emeryville Trader Joe's to meet V. On my way down from the railroad crossing doohickey, I saw a young man sitting on the sidewalk, back bent, arms draped on his knees, looking at the ground. He didn't look particularly sad or upset, but his body language wasn't positive.
I walked up to him and smiled down. "Would you like a hug?"
He looked up at me disbelievingly, then began to laugh. "Wow, that's just so weird!" I smiled and sat down.
"What's weird?"
"Well, I've been kind of questioning my faith in God and stuff recently, and yesterday I got home from work and was feeling pretty bad about it, and I kind of reached out and said, 'God, if you're there, I could really use a hug.'"
At this, I grinned. "Well, the response came a bit late, sorry about that. But He gets to you in the end."
This young man (I think his name was Zane) and I just sat and talked a bit -- his close friend called him and he had me talk to him just to prove I was for real -- and then V came along.
Zane said the greatest thing ever to the man who needed to hear it most (IMHO):
"Don't ever let go of this one."