Free Hugs

When the short, old, white guy in a blue jacket drops by the caf where I write, like clockwork, a couple of beefy regulars shout, jumping out of their seats, and one-by-one, heave their hulking bodies into his arms for a hug.

Joe holds the tender brutes to his humble chest, everyone laughs and the room heats up. I can't hold back anymore. I've been eyeing the hugger for months, so I get in line and put in my request: what's with all the hugs?

The all-knowing owner of the caf, smiles.

I look at Joe, searching. He looks through me.

It is, he says.

Is what?, I squint.

What is, is, the owner speaks for his friend. He has hugged Joe for years.

Joe's eyes shine. It's spontaneous. It's not their bodies, it's their souls touching mine.

I am irritated and intrigued. I had imagined he was a 12-step superstar, a mafia don or a lion king. I feel a trickling doubt that this guy is for real, and an increasingly urgent need to know why people hug him and who the freak he is.

Joe smiles. I don't.

I am nothing.

He says he's a spiritual being having a human experience, part of the greater whole. He's not a thing. Just like us.

I am you. I'm hugging me.

The fire burns. I want to believe him but my attachment, my ego and my outrage hold me back.

What about pain and loss, I ask, what about grief?

If you like, Joe shrugs. But he prefers to... appreciate.

And, there is no death, he adds, so, that helps.

The owner whoops behind the counter. The place fills up for lunch. It suddenly hits me that I want to tell this self-named average Joe all my worries and fears. I want to tell him that the world is falling apart, people I love are hurting, and my father died last year. I can't look into his eyes, but suddenly, I yearn for his arms. He asks if I'd like a hug. Despite some manufactured cool, I flood with light.

We stand up in the crowd and I fall into the warm embrace of the universe, a rush of love and the arms of my late dad, the hugging king. Everyone is happy, Joe says in my ear, but they don't know it because they're distracted. For one shining moment in the busy caf, everyone hears.

Do you have a hugger story? Give us a hug.

Art by David Dixon of Bring Me the Head of David Dixon .

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GOOD NEWS FLASH: Check out the amazing embrace between these hard-rocking parents and their rockstar son. What can I say, my people, it's all about love. Support and share!