mission in life, an inspirational example

> the hero

Juan Mann is a pseudonym of a
25-year-old australian who has
committed himself to giving "FREE HUGS",
as his large poster says.
since 2004, every thursday, he goes
to the pitt street mall, one of sydney's
(sydney is australia's biggest city) busiest streets,
to embrace anyone who would come to get a
free hug from him.

> the initial experience (the seed)

"... he thought he would last an hour at most.
he had a friend stand by to kee an eye on him
& left his wallet at home ....
"'i genuinely expected the worst,'....
but after 15 minutes, a woman approached
& told him how her dog died that morning,
which was also the first anniversary of her
only daughter's death, & she really needed
a hug.
"'& that 1st woman, it was more than a hug,
IT MEANT SOMETHING TO HER.'"

> the effects (the fruits)

-- "'every week a number of people will tell me
their STORY, how they have suffered &
how they get by, the mistakes they've made
& the lessons they've learned.
i'm very fortunate in what i do
in that I LEARN from everyone else's mistakes
as well as my own. i am very fortunate in that
i have a lot of other people's perspectives.'"
-- shimon moore, lead singer of sydney band
sick puppies, befriended Mann after they met
in the mall & put together a video of Mann on
the YouTube web site: http://youtube.com/
watch?v=vr3_RRJdd4 which has been named as
the most inspirational clip on the site with
almost 14 million viewers.
-- "& from taipei to paris to peru to tokyo
admiring followers have set up their own
'free hug' practices.
-- Mann now spends 4 hours a day answering
emails. he estimates having hugged about
500,000 people over the 3 years since he
devised his "'absurd approach' TO GIVE THE
CITY A HUMAN TOUCH.'"

> the story behind (the wounding)

in early 2004, he returned from europe
"lonely & unhappy at his parents' divorce....
"'i was ALONE. my family was elsewhere,
my friends had all moved on. it was just me....
& i had to do something.... & i sat around
for months doing nothing. noticing, just
watching the world.... & i thought
i would try to step out of that
& try to DO SOMETHING different."

> the demand for the ministry

"Mann said his 'junk food emotion' fulfills
a need people have for someone to LISTEN
to their problems without the stigma of
calling a help line or seeking out a
professional counselor.
"'there's just no ANONYMOUS place
where people can go and dump their guilt,
their suffering & their anguish,' he says.
"... when local authorities threatened
to stop mann's campaign for public safety
reasons, some 10,000 people signed a petition
to keep it alive.
"and every thursday, he puts on his soft purple
velvet jacket & takes up his place in pitt street
mall, hugging shoppers, tourists & workers,
particularly urging those he feels miss out on
HUMAN CONTACT, such as old people and businessmen,
to come over and 'lay it on me.'"

> the mission

"...Mann [who has had death threats on the one hand
& being idolized, even compared to jesus christ on
the other] ... said he will keep hugging pepole
'until nobody wants me, until i look like a
dirty old man.
"'I'VE GOT TO DO IT. it would be selfish of me to
stop & selfish of me to walk away.'"

source: 7Days (2007 April 29). "spreading
the love," p. 6.