New York!!

SO I have been in New York for a few days now, since the 13th. On the 13th I tried going free hugging downtown and got 10 hugs, not too many but it was pretty okish. Then on the 14th I went to see Daniel Radcliff in a showing of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying which was a wonderful show. (Especially for the great price of $30!) Today I went and met a friend of mine who stayed at our house while he interned at LaSalle Street Church, Kyle Sandison. It was awesome to get to talk with him. It was even cooler because he was with me the day that I first learned about free hugs and saw people free hugging!! That was a historic day right there. As we were talking one of the quotes he showed me by C.S. Louis was really interesting. It went something like this: "It is a serious thing, to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." Which got me thinking about all of the different people that you meet off of the street. The smallest ideas or gestures could determine their whole future!! Imagine if those teenagers had never been free hugging on the street that my family and I were walking on to go and see the 5th Harry Potter Movie for my brothers birthday? I would be a completely different person!! What else is so crazy is that those huggers had no idea how much their act of offering Free Hugs impacted my life! Can you imagine a David Melia without free hugs? The tiniest moments, the meeting of someone on the street, the smile or hug of a stranger, the compliment or willingness to look silly really can make a difference. As I go out into the world and Free Hug I think about all of the times that others have impacted my life in brief moments that last a lot longer in memories and that is what keeps me going. It's the girl that wrote "Keep it up, your saving lives" on the back of my Free Hugs shirt when she was signing it, it's the lady who emailed me that she wasn't having the best time in Chicago and after passing me by a couple times, got a hug and her time in Chicago was saved because of that hug, it's those people that keep me going. It makes me wonder exactly how many lives I have touched? Those whom I don't know about, those who have experienced a change like I did when I first saw a free hugger. Those huggers have no idea how much their presence that day actually meant. It really makes you wonder, how much a small interaction on the street really can affect a life doesn't it? As Leo Buscaglia beautifully states: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn around a life" I challenge you not to underestimate the power of the smallest act of caring, to do something nice no matter how small to someone you meet on the street, someone you work with, someone you love. The smallest things make the biggest difference. Lots of Hugs! :David