The world can get pretty lost in its ideas. There are school boards issuing directives to teachers to prevent them from hugging crying children lest the hugger possibly face some sort of terrible accusation and lawsuit. This is how lost we are. We believe it is wiser to protect our money from possible assault than it is to hug a crying child. That starkly shows how crazy our thinking has become.
Those ideas are clearly clearly clearly not in alignment with what people naturally feel to be appropriate. And yet their compassionate nature is being over-ridden by thoughts. Rules. Policies. Fears about money or status. All of these only exist in human imagination. To trade our nature for imagined benefits is to steal from ourselves.
This video is a classic example of people letting rules, policies, paperwork and other people do their thinking for them. Why anyone would think we should put a stop to hugging is beyond me. These are rules for their own sake. It’s not like anyone suffers. We’re so lost we’re policing against decency, kindness and care. I suspect Toronto still even has its—strangers-can’t-feed-other-stranger’s-parking-meter—rule. A rule against giving. What a terrible lesson for children.
This was a beautiful idea, and we can thank those that fought against it, because they’re the reason the story became world famous and started a wave of this in dozens of countries. I still see people outside my local Farmer’s Market doing this pretty regularly. Bottom line, just watching this video will have you feeling better about the world.
Give someone a hug today. Because when you do that, you automatically get one too.
Enjoy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4]
peace. s
Scott McPherson is an Edmonton-based writer, public speaker, and mindfulness facilitator who works with individuals, companies and non-profit organizations around the world.
A serious childhood brain injury lead Scott to spend his entire life meditating on the concepts of thought, consciousness, reality and identity. It made others as strange to him as he was to them. When he realized people were confused by their own over-thinking, Scott began teaching others to understand reality. He is currently CBC Radio Active’s Wellness Columnist, as well as a writer, speaker and mindfulness instructor based in Edmonton, AB where he still finds it strange to write about himself in the third person.