free hugs for all

i'm glad i got distracted, that i got sick of looking up volumes and volumes of journals.
i'm glad i sought out the latest incarnation of elmo or else i wouldn't have stumbled onto the free hugs campaign.

not one to be a youtube junkie, let alone post videos and slow down loading times unable to embed in blogger, linking instead... this is an exeption that i really wanted to share with whoever happens to stumble in here. always been one that's drawn to the bittersweet, this free hugs campaign tugged at the heartstrings. yes, maybe it's a tad crazy to hug some stranger with a nutty history or one that might have um... head lice! i agree that we all have different levels of personal boundaries but that being said, i think it's a tad sad that everyone's treated with caution at first sight until proven otherwise safe. what happened to the old kampung days, those days of playing amongst the wheat fields and random stops at various neighbors' places?

seeing pitt street mall brought back a scene i came across a few weeks back. parents were in town, was trudging up and down the shopping areas and came across this little asian boy of about 8, standing in the middle of pitt street mall with a light mist of rain soaking him slowly. he was oblivious to the crowd and to the rain, diligently playing his violin with a gentle sway. a container for money was on the ground just next to him.

first thing that sprung into my head was "where are his parents?" followed by "what kind of parents let their kid do this?!" a lot of split second assumptions were made and had i known the full story, i might have not been so horrified. first impulse i had was to give the kid a huge hug and ask him why he was playing alone in the middle of the crowded shopping strip. the free hug campaign brought back that feeling...

anyway, happy mooncake day ~ huggs to yuh and yuh and yuh (a la the sound of music) =) hope these huggs find you well ~