Six years ago, I received a very special birthday gift from my friend, Even. Even was a former colleague of mine when we both taught in a middle high and then left our posts together for further objectives of life. He is one of the brightest and kindest friend I have, the one with ambition. At the age of 27, he realized what he really wanted was a complete family, with power and fortune as aids, so he dropped out of the PhD program he was in and threw himself into the competition of joint college exam. He got accepted into a medical university and began his new life, with his beloved wife and two angelic children. During the year of my concentration of preparing for graduate school, Even and I held an English chitchat gathering every two weeks because he regarded himself lack of the skill of English conversation. As a friend to him, I was delighted to get together with him merely for a bit of chitchat, a purposeful chat, and of course I've always enjoyed being helpful to a friend that is equally committed to our friendship.
In return for my little favor, he treated me to a special physical treament of Chi and Zen. I was bemused as I was led into a shrine in a condo situated in a residential building at downtown Taipei. We were greeted by two women whom Even called Shi-jehs, dressing in loose white cotton shirt and work pants for nuns. They guided us into a small room, and Even and I lay on two cushioned benches respectively. Shi-jehs gave us physical treament: forcing the bad Chi out by patting with certain strength on our bodies and reinforcing the circulation by fist-beating on various spots on us. I did not believe in any traditional treament like this before, and I certainly was surprised to find a scientifically/medically trained doctor-to-be entrusting his belief in good health through conventional physical therapy like this. Amazingly, nevertheless, I felt my Chi and blood circulating all over from head to toe, and within a short time, my cold limbs were becoming warm and I found my tension on the shoulder and back was totally gone. There was something in my system, in my belly. I was completely refreshed and a colour flied onto my cheek.
When Even was done and led out of the room, I was directed to sit quietly for a while. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. While I was sitting there, Senior Shi-jeh stepped up to me:
"You have carried too much, way too long. Now you have to learn to let it go."
I nodded, as if I'd been hypnotized. She patted me on the center of my back, then held out her arms and gave me a big long hug until I suddenly realized that I was stonly stunned and tears dropped on my laps.
I asked Even whether I looked sad, tired or particularly old, and whether he had let on to Shi-jehs about me.
"You look old? I wonder people took you as my student though," he chuckled at my response, saying that it was his second time going there and asked me why. After my telling him what happened to me before we came out of the mini temple, he appeared to be bewildered as well.
"My friends have been telling me that Senior Shi-jeh has particular eyes that see what other people cannot see or sense. Perhaps she sees you."
Years later, I saw this Free Hug Campaign and found myself tearful and emotional, sensing a slight loneliness, helplessness and crying for help (and possibly attention) from the young man. There were times that we need a little affection and genuineness, pure and simple. Throwing your arms to stranger is never easy; not to mention asking a stranger for a little support of help or something even simpler, such as a hug. I guess I can never rule out the fact that you have to look harmless, clean and even nice to get the hugs, but a hug in time might save a life, and we just may never know it.