{"id":902,"date":"2012-06-18T12:04:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T11:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/londonerfromafar.wordpress.com\/?p=902"},"modified":"2020-05-24T17:16:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-24T16:16:41","slug":"free-hugs-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alondonerfromafar.co.uk\/free-hugs-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Hugs in London?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Sometimes, a hug is all that we need.”\u00a0\"Free<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the weekend, I met some of the people doing free hugs<\/strong> in London. I have to say that of all of the events that take place in Trafalgar Square, this is the most curious one.<\/p>\n

I had previously\u00a0read about people giving free hugs around the world and seen some vids, and thought it might be some sort of unreliable,\u00a0hippy-inherited thing.\u00a0I mean, why<\/strong> would anyone hug strangers in the street, for free! We all read about rings of child pornography and about rapists. So, we might think that the sheer physical contact with strangers must be something terribly suspicious, as if there was a hidden agenda.<\/p>\n

After an enjoyable\u00a0evening with some very\u00a0respectable and fun free-huggers<\/strong>, I decided to\u00a0look a bit deeper into this. It all started some time ago, when Juan Mann went back to an empty home.<\/p>\n

We all have been in a situation where we needed a hug. Juan Mann didn\u00b4t have anyone who would welcome him back home, and decided to\u00a0look for some comfort in another way.\u00a0He wrote `Free Hugs\u00b4 on a piece of cardboard, and the idea went global<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I thought at first they might be involved in the so-called Free Hugs Campaign<\/a> in\u00a0London.\u00a0They are not even subscribed to any movement at all.\u00a0<\/span>Truth is, that the guys that I met on Saturday do not do it for fun, money or any dodgy idea. \u00a0They just liked the idea of making someone else happier for a minute<\/strong>, which makes me\u00a0regret the connection that I made in the paragraph above.<\/p>\n

Have you ever done this or received a free hug?<\/p>\n

Take a look at the video below. Music is by the band Sick Puppies.<\/p>\n

No share or id values provided for youtube shortcode.<\/strong>
\n\"A<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Sometimes, a hug is all that we need.”\u00a0 Over the weekend, I met some of the people doing free hugs in London. 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