As interesting days go, this one easily makes the list. It started out innocently enough. Being a four day weekend I decided to sleep in. Having done so successfully (for me) I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the day.
On my list of things to do were – laundry, play video game, football research (Fantasy Football is only a few weeks away), and lastly make signs for Free Hug Day on Monday. A pretty easy day all in all. Certainly there would be some later frivolity at a bar with friends but the majority of the day was going to be a breeze. Ah yes…The Perfect Plan.
As some of you are aware, anytime I have a “perfect” plan something is bound to go wrong. You’d think I’d learn.
Today “wrong” came in the form of a voice-mail indicating that last year Free Hug Day was on July 7th but this year it’s on July 5th. HOLY CRAP THAT’S TODAY!!!! Time to do the mad dash of shower, create-a-sign, and be a better person.
But first there were some phone calls to make. A quick call to Meg Ryan. OK not really but have you ever noticed how Meg always gets stuck playing the same character? Well that’s how it is with a friend of mine. No matter what’s going on she’s always the same person. She’s never “out of type” which is fast becoming a running gag for me with her.
Then I rang another interested party to tell them what an idiot I am in not realizing that I had the date wrong.
Having done that it was off to the drug store to pick up supplies for sign making. A simple enough task and one that I pulled off with ease. I’ll spare you the anal retentive ordeal I went through in creating my sign. Let’s just say it took me an hour to make a really crappy sign that said nothing more than “FREE HUGS”. It took the other two participants 20 minutes combined to make some pretty good signs. So shoot me, I’m not an artist.
We decided to go to the UNIVERSITY VILLAGE HERE IN SEATTLE. I wouldn’t normally say exactly where but it’s important so deal with it. Now for those of you that aren’t familiar with THE UNIVERSITY VILLAGE HERE IN SEATTLE it is an open air shopping mall. Also, in fairness, going there was a decision that I made so anything negative that came out of it is purely my doing.
The Plan – perfect as it was – was to sit in the outside portion of Atlas doling out hugs and drinking beer. What could go wrong with that? Well thanks to all the rednecks in Alabama that continue to drive trucks bigger than my apartment it rained this morning. This means that the outdoor portion of Atlas was closed off. Bummer! Not to be deterred we opted to offer hugs just outside of Atlas while coming inside every so often to sip on the beverages that we’d ordered.
From there things progressed the way I’d expected them to. Some folks were a bit leery of the idea. Some gave odd looks. And so it went for the first few minutes. But the idea is that you don’t approach people. You let those that want a hug come and get one. After all, they’re free. And so it went that after a time folks came up to us and asked if they could have a hug. There’s something pretty wonderful about that particular moment. One guy had just been fired. Another lady had had a horrible week for various reasons. Some folks just wanted to help keep it going. There were plenty that walked by with their head turned away to avoid eye contact. That was perfectly fine.
We weren’t there to create guilt. Only to lend a smiling face and a hug if wanted.
As you would expect though, it was too good to last. Didn’t I mention that it was a perfect plan? About an hour and a half into our vigil at the UNIVERSITY VILLAGE IN SEATTLE the Rent-A-Cops showed up.
“You can’t do this here” they said.
“It’s against the rules” they continued.
There was a dialogue between us that broke with them running off to huddle up and call their superiors. The writing was on the wall though. FREE HUGS were NOT WELCOME AT the UNIVERSITY VILLAGE IN SEATTLE. I was a little dismayed. I really felt that this was a fairly progressive city. That these were the sort of things that you might run into elsewhere but not here.
When the Rent-A-Cops returned I was ready for them. I knew that they were going to kick us out but I wasn’t going to allow that to happen without a fight. Not enough of one that it would land me in jail mind you but if I could make them feel small for doing what they were doing then in my mind they deserved it.
AG - “Is the management at the U-Village really going on record as saying that they are anti Hug?”
RC - “No sir, you just can’t have a sign that says ‘FREE HUGS’”
AG - “So then it’s the sign that bothers you?”
AG - “Could I wear a t-shirt that said ‘FREE HUGS”
RC - “Uhhhhh”
AG - “What if I put the sign down and just paced back and forth declaring that it was ‘FREE HUG DAY AND I’M OFFERING UP HUGS TO ANY ONE THAT WANTS ONE’?”
RC - “I’m not sure I understand sir.”
AG - “My question is, is the U-Village anti Free Hugs or are they just anti Free Hug sign?”
Sigh…you get the gist. As I said, the writing was on the wall. After some time we packed up our things and ran to higher ground. By higher ground I’m referring to the heart of the University District. We had a much better reception there but it wasn’t the same environment.
I have a greater respect for what Mr. Juan Mann endured on his journey. Next year the 3 of us have resolved ourselves to going into Downtown Seattle where we hope/believe the reception will be much better.
Have you hugged someone today?
No comments:
Post a Comment