COME HERE, LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG!

by Psychic-Magic contributor Janet Ashe

Today somebody offered strangers a hug. Not because they did anything right. Or wrong. Simply because it was obvious they needed it. As the hugger (whom we’ll name H) noted, there are people who are not considerate of others. The strangers have a loud ring on their cell phones so we all know how popular they are when a call comes in (during a movie, at the restaurant, anywhere in public). And when they answer, they talk loud enough so everybody in the vicinity can hear every word. H wanted to hug the strangers who take up two spaces in a crowded parking lot and drive without using turn signals or mirrors because they’re busy talking (loudly) on their cell phones—or worse yet, texting while driving. Strangers who talk through movies.

We all know these strangers. They say the world hates them—and punish us because they’re convinced we hate them. So a lot of us accommodate them and punish them by hating them. It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t benefit anyone. H told the strangers to drop their swinging fists and lift their arms to be embraced.

That’s hard. Sometimes we want to beat these strangers to a pulp for being so inconsiderate. Sometimes it seems like they want to be punished. But that doesn’t heal anything; it only makes matters worse. H said we have to “hug the pain away.” Wow. That sounds so easy. The questions then become: will the strangers allow us to hug them? And are we willing to even offer the hug in the first place?

Food for thought.