Lee Shapiro is a retired judge. He is also one of the most genuinely loving
people we know. At one point in his career, Lee realized that love is the
greatest power there is. As a result, Lee became a hugger. He began offering
everybody a hug. His colleagues dubbed him "the hugging judge" (as opposed to
the hanging judge, we suppose). The bumper sticker on his car reads, "Don't bug
me! Hug me!"
About six years ago Lee created what he calls his Hugger Kit. On the outside it
reads "A heart for a hug." The inside contains thirty little red embroidered
hearts with stickums on the back. Lee will take out his Hugger Kit, go around to
people and offer them a little red heart in exchange for a hug.
Lee has become so well known for this that he is often invited to keynote
conferences and conventions, where he shares his message of unconditional love.
At a conference in San Francisco, the local news media challenged him by saying,
"It is easy to give out hugs here in the conference to people who self-selected
to be here. But this would never work in the real world."
They challenged Lee to give away some hugs on the streets of San Francisco.
Followed by a television crew from the local news station, Lee went out onto the
street. First he approached a woman walking by. "Hi, I'm Lee Shapiro, the
hugging judge. I'm giving out these hearts in exchange for a hug." "Sure," she
replied. "Too easy," challenged the local commentator. Lee looked around. He saw
a meter maid who was being given a hard time by the owner of a BMW to whom she
was giving a ticket. He marched up to her, camera crew in tow, and said, "You
look like you could use a hug. I'm the hugging judge and I'm offering you one."
She accepted.
The television commentator threw down one final challenge. "Look, here comes a
bus. San Francisco bus drivers are the toughest, crabbiest, meanest people in
the whole town. Let's see you get him to hug you." Lee took the challenge.
As the bus pulled up to the curb, Lee said, "Hi, I'm Lee Shapiro, the hugging
judge. This has got to be one of the most stressful jobs in the whole world. I'm
offering hugs to people today to lighten the load a little. Would you like one?
The six-foot-two, 230-pound bus driver got out of his seat, stepped down and
said, "Why not?"
Lee hugged him, gave him a heart and waved goodbye as the bus pulled out. The TV
crew was speechless. Finally, the commentator said, "I have to admit, I'm very
impressed."
One day Lee's friend Nancy Johnston showed up on his doorstep. Nancy is a
professional clown an she was wearing her clown costume, makeup and all.
"Lee, grab a bunch of your Hugger Kits and let's go out to the home for the
disabled."
When they arrived at the home, they started giving out balloon hats, hearts and
hugs to the patients. Lee was uncomfortable. He had never before hugged people
who were terminally ill, severely retarded or quadraplegic. It was definitely a
stretch. But after a while it becarne easier with Nancy and Lee acquiring an
entourage of doctors, nurses and orderlies who followed them from ward to ward.
After several hours they entered the last ward. These were 34 of the worst cases
Lee had seen in his life. The feeling was so grim it took his heart away. But
out of their commitment to share their love and to make a difference, Nancy and
Lee started working their way around the room followed by the entourage of
medical staff, all of whom by now had hearts on their collars and balloon hats
on their heads.
Finally, Lee came to the last person, Leonard. Leonard was wearing a big white
bib which he was drooling on. Lee looked at Leonard dribbling onto his bib and
said, "Let's go, Nancy, there's no way we can get through to this person." Nancy
replied, "C'mon, Lee. He's a fellow human being, too, isn't he?" Then she placed
a funny balloon hat on his head. Lee took one of his little red hearts and
placed it on Leonard's bib. He took a deep breath, leaned down and gave Leonard
a hug.
All of a sudden Leonard began to squeal, "Eeeeehh! Eeeeeehh!" Some of the other
patients in the room began to clang things together. Lee turned to the staff for
some sort of explanation only to find that every doctor, nurse and orderly was
crying. Lee asked the head nurse, "What's going on?"
Lee will never forget what she said: "This is the first time in 23 years we've
ever seen Leonard smile."
How simple it is to make a difference in the lives of others.
By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen,p. 12-14.
Http://www.chickensoup.com
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