Do you want a hug?

Spring has arrived to Milan and with it a lot of tourists have come. A group of women decided to take advantage of this situation and they are giving free hugs to anyone who goes to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in the centre of the city. Crazy? Not so much.

Lucia is a music teacher from Monza and she stands for hours at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan to give free hugs. She is part of the Free Hugs campaign, a spontaneous movement of people around the globe determined to suppress social disconnectivity, the repression of emotions and the lack of human contact by just giving hugs to strangers in public places. These people use posters with the words FREE HUGS to attract the attention of the public.

Of course, the reactions from the public are varied. While some are enthusiastic about it, others just go away with fear.

But how did it all start?

Juan Mann had been living in London for several years and when he turned back to his city, Sidney, he found out that nobody was waiting for him, while the other passengers had their own families and friends waiting to hug and kiss them. And so, an idea came to his mind:

"I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words 'Free Hugs' on both sides", said Mann.

This is how a story of success began and thousands of people around the world started to imitate Juan's idea.

In this world of individualism and competition it's amazing to imagine that someone could give his most valuable thing-his time- to others without asking for anything else.

It makes me think about the millions of people who day after day work as doctors, nursers, or members of NGO's. They receive miserable salaries and sometimes they don't get paid at all. Their only satisfaction is to see other people happy and healthy. For all of you, A BIG VIRTUAL HUG!

See the video of Lucia