Yesterday I took the afternoon off to have some fun. I loaded up on tasty candy at my local food co-op and headed off to see Cowboys & Aliens with a new friend. Sure, Wall Street was acting up big time (again, and pointlessly, really, how should we handle a spoiled brat?), but I had time off! What could be as cool as that?

Then I saw it, the sign that changed everything.

“HUG SALE!” it read, in large caps. “HUG SALE!”

Awesome! (Awesome is my new favorite word: spin it right, and everything is awesome.)

Just like that my new economic policy was born.

What works in a world that doesn’t seem workable? Where is our strength? Our refuge?

In hugs. In hugs we trust.

Everything works better with hugs. After all, what is a hug? Acceptance, community, peace, fun, humor. You can trade a hug for food, for a good joke, a flower, a business referral, a chance to make a new friend.

You can weigh hugs for value: a quick handshake between strangers is an ‘almost hug,’ worth a quick, shy smile. A quick two-arm hug is worth a friendly hello and genuine interest in ‘what you do.’ A brief shoulder hug acknowledges that we’re in this together, whatever ‘this’ is, and seats us peacefully around the negotiation table. A full-on body hug is the stuff communities are built on: it’s worth everything.

Hugs are barter that makes sense. Tangible, visible proof that what they’re trying to scare us with won’t work. That maybe they’ll have us all in bread lines before it’s over, but we’ll at least be there together, and then we’ll go out and create a world where all life is working, and playing, where together we can create healthy, balanced lives of integrity and meaning.

What would a hug mean to you? How would you barter a hug?

Oh, yeah, about the afternoon off.

My new friend is delightful: funny, warm, and thoughtful. The candy was delicious (I figured chocolate peanut butter malt balls were a curiosity, and possibly edible, but the yumminess was a bonus!).

And the movie? I haven’t been to a movie in years, and Cowboys & Aliens was worth the wait: played straight, so you were as dumbfounded as the people in that town, and, finally, proud. Thrilled that fundamentally flawed, damaged people could put aside their pettiness and effectively collaborate to save family and community, which included complete strangers (but you just couldn’t resist a naked woman, could you, boys, even though it was pointless?).

Let’s see, we already know we have dim-witted and unpatriotic politicians. Even they should learn something from this movie. Hurry up and see it, guys, then line up for hugs!

Hugs for politicians? Absolutely. Full on body hug. They get my acceptance, my thanks for being such obvious idiots that we don’t have to tolerate them any more, and I get my country back. Fair and square.

Hugs. Barter. Community. Let’s go for it. We have nothing left to lose that wasn’t gone years ago. We have a world to gain. Let’s hug it back.

You in?

(c) 2011 Robyn M Fritz