I attended Folklife Festival (http://www.nwfolklife.org) in Seattle on Memorial Day. Naturally, this peace and love event was infiltrated by a gang of sign toting Christian hate-mongers. They took over a grassy knoll and began shouting that we were all going to hell. In fact, they went well beyond the usual nonsense, picking out individuals in the crowd ("Yeah you, in the dreadlocks, get down on your knees!") and generally making asses of themselves.
Of course, the ever-tolerant hippies amoung us in this every-tolerant city just ignored them, but the goth/punk/street kids (I'm too old to know the difference) started making their own signs on scrapes of cardboard. Most of them were pretty combative ("God is dead", "These guys suck cock", etc.). After about a half hour things were getting a little tense. One of the punks was trying to tag the Christianists' signs, who were looking like they were about to bust a vein.
Now I love the contribution Folklife makes to the culture of our city (dance, music, food and education) and the last thing we needed was an ugly incident. I didn't know what to do, however, so I just kind of hung out looking for a chance to be a peacemaker.
That's when one of the punks made a sign: "Free Hugs." I hugged her. Soon she was doing a brisk business. More "Free Hugs" signs appeared and it wasn't long before the Christianists were surrounded by dozens of huggers. Strangers hugged strangers. Urban punks hugged suburban housewives. Suits hugged goths. Women hugged women and men hugged men.
It only took about 15 minutes of hugging to drive the Christianists away.
They're the ones who shout about Jesus, but when the people practice his message of love they run away.
Thank you goth/punk/street kids.
Hugs to everyone.