Fables and Faith : The power of a hug

BENTONVILLE — Since my Walk to Emmaus, I've become known as a guy who loves to hug folks. I hug women, men, children, youth, dogs, cats, horses, etc. - you get my point. I've read that a hug is one of the most basic ways two human beings touch. I also know there is great power in a hug.

For example, a hug can break down barriers that sometimes words cannot.

At times, it can speak more than any words could say and certainly could be more effective. We bond with a hug. We find comfort with a hug. We greet and separate from each other with a hug. We establish human contact and interaction with a hug.

I think hugs are particularly good when the sky outside is cloudy and rain is falling or is forecast.

There's something about that kind of weather (like we have been having) thatgives us shivers. That's where hugs come in.

In his book "The Little Book of Hugs," Steve Wiesinger wrote, "A hold-me hug in the ocean makes me feel all safe : and lasts until you dry-me hug, later, which takes the shivers away." While I would substitute the word "bathtub" for the word ocean, I love this quote and can identify with it both as an adult and as a child.

Psychologists remind us that human beings thrive on touch and often languish without it. Weare social creatures. The simple act of hugging can lift a person and make him or her feel connected to someone else. When you embrace another human being, for those few moments, you have to let go of everything and focus on that hug.

Searching the Internet, I found some very interesting quotes about hugs and hugging that I'd like to share with you. For example, you can't wrap love in a box, but you can wrap a person in a hug. A hug is two hearts wrappedin arms; the world would rather hug than hurt you.

And one I think we really should remember when friends hurt: "A silent hug means a thousand words to an unhappy heart."

Leo Buscaglia, one of my favorite motivational authors, said this about hugging: "Everyone needs a hug. It changes your metabolism."

The real beauty of a hug is in its simplicity. The gesture toward another human being, known or unknown, is so easy. It costs nothing but a simpleact of caring and kindness. When I looked up the definition of the word "hug," I found this: "to clasp or hold closely, especially in the arms, as in affection;

embrace; to hold steadfastly, to cherish; to stay close to."

Perhaps the world would be a much better place in which to live if we could take to heart the words of Tony Davis: "Hugging closes the door to hate."

Shalom.

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Bob Haynes' column appears on Mondays.