First of all I quickly prepared my transparent, which was the most important part of the day. This is how it looked like ( one side in English and the other of course in Slovak)
At the beginning I was a bit shy to take out the table, but after I saw the other guys standing there and waiting for hugs, I joined them immediately.
As I said in a previous invitation article, this hugging thing is a deep emotional gesture, so hard to describe with words. So instead of the emotions I will try to say few words about my experiences with the people on that hugging afternoon.
Of course there were several reactions. I start with the worst.
7. There were people who were completely ignoring all of us (the huggers). Just put on their mallet face and walked by. (But who cares? we continued our "mission" with the same good mood and kind smiles.)
6. Couple of men just stopped next to me and were asking what is this for and if we believe in God. They were kinda rude, were really convinced we are followers of God and this event is something connected with church. Ridiculous. I was trying to explain this is just for fun and make each other happier, but they just walked away too.
5. There were people who walked away as well, but there was a shy smile on their face. They were just probably too afraid to make this movement, "what if someone sees them hugging strangers?", but I saw that little sniggle under their noses. Probably they would gladly make it, but their ego didn't allow to.
After these sentences I have a really bad feeling inside, because until now it looks like it was a horrible afternoon, without any hugs. But just continue reading :)
4. For sure I gave/got some hugs... even if they were not that true. Yes, some people were willing to hug, but I knew they just wanted to be after it, like it would be an obligation.
3. I was walking on the street with my transparent, several people walking in front of me. I smiled on them, the smiled back and we were embracing. It was nice, I wished them a nice day, but I knew they would not do it by themselves.
2. The best feeling was when someone was running right towards to me, just for a simple hug. I made them happier, they made me happier. Ladies and gentlemen, this is called business. :) The same situation happened to me on a crossing, when I was standing on one side of the road and the guy on the other. I have seen from afar he can't wait for a hug. We met in the midst and it was a huuuge nice embrace. I couldn't stop smiling after that.
1. I left the sadly nicest and most emotional hug for the end. One man came to me (hugged me) and asked me to hug his friend, because maybe he was smiling and looked quite happy, but actually his wife died that day. So I just hugged him without notes or any quiestions. So for me he was the winner of the day and most deserved of the hugs.
At the very end all of the huggers met again. We didn't even know each other (at least I didn't see them before), but we were talking about our experiences. Take a look at that, as you see we were kinda happy and satisfied after the event. So thank you all who attended and an official video "Free Hug Bratislava 2012" is coming soon".
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