The Power of a Well-Timed Hug

Dr. David L. Chancey's picture

Snoopy is having a hard time these days. In the popular Peanuts cartoon, Snoopy is agonizing over losing his doghouse to the new freeway that’s coming through. In a recent edition, Lucy unloads, “All right, so they run a freeway through here and you lose your doghouse. You think you’re the first one who’s ever lost his home? You think you’re the only one? Huh? Stop feeling sorry for yourself!”

As Lucy walks away, a dejected Snoopy lies flat on the ground and thinks, “Whatever happened to good old-fashioned ‘arm-around-the-shoulder’ sympathy?”

That’s all Snoopy wanted-a little sympathy and understanding expressed in a well-timed hug. There’s a lot of power in a hug, and there’s a lot of people who could use that affirmation and expression of concern.

Mother Theresa supposedly said, “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”

This need for love and encouragement is the motivator behind the annual Random Huggers Day celebrated in the United Kingdom. This past May 6, 24 random huggers hugged over 4,100 people in London. Wearing yellow stickers that read, “Random Huggers Day,” each volunteer asked permission to pass along a hug.

There was some hesitation, but most people gladly accepted a no-strings-attached hug. One recipient said, “I was very glad to be hugged by you and your great team on Sunday. We need more people like you in the world! I went away feeling very airy, happy and relaxed.”

The brainchild of a lady named Mayella Reynolds, Random Huggers Day exists to spread the love, warmth and wonderful energy that is in a great hug around the world, according to their website.

“There is no charity or corporation involved. This is about one human being giving another human being a gift for nothing. Giving people a hug is very special. It is a simple way of expressing love, care and friendship. Our intention is to spread some love, warmth and fun, and all the wonderful energy that is in a hug.”

Reynolds hopes that Random Huggers Day will become a global emphasis, and she’s already scheduled next year’s event for May 4, 2008.

“Let’s get the whole world hugging,” she stated.

There was some international hugging at the recent Little League World Series. The Warner Robins little league team had battled the youngsters from Japan into the championship game. With a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth, shortstop Dalton Carriker led off against Junsho Kiuchi. Dalton took an outside pitch over the right field wall for the winning homerun that clinched the 2007 Little League World Series.

Naturally, the Georgia team went wild, while the Japanese players hung their heads. Some even began to sob. Taylor Lay of Warner Robins said, “I don’t believe weíll ever forget this moment. The sadness on their faces and the joy on ours. But we’re trying to let them know there’s no shame in what happened today.”

You rarely see compassion override competitiveness between the white lines, but some of the Georgia players noticed the devastated Japanese youth, and, on their own, walked over to comfort their peers. The celebration stopped and the entire team walked over to the downtrodden Japanese team and . . . hugged each player.

It was a moving moment, a well-timed show of support and encouragement. There’s much power in a hug. Have you given that old-fashioned arm-around-the-shoulder sympathy lately?

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AF A-10's picture
Submitted by AF A-10 on Mon, 10/01/2007 - 5:52pm.

Jeremy Williams was an amazing jiu jitsu blackbelt, fighter, and instructor. The interesting thing about him was, his "signature move" was a hug. He was known to just spring hugs on guys who were injured, defeated, or just having a bad day. And these big, macho, fearsome guys always had the same reaction; they would spring a huge smile and realize that all was not lost. Unfortunately Jeremy is no longer with us, but his lesson has lived on in his students and peers.

Kevin "Hack" King


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