EVOLUTION MEETS RELIGION

“….it’s either God made the world, or the world made itself…you have no other choice.”

It’s time to talk about things that concerns me, you and everything including the very dust particle that your foot is at rest right now.

This is all about the “Theory of Evolution,” yeah the things that is in your head right now, and it’s loyal adversary, the Holy Bible. Each of them has something to say – one of them is right or wrong. Perhaps, you’ll gonna see who was that.

Lastly, this is a shared mental scruples patterned to that of the elaboration of a Youtube blogger known by the name “VenomFangX” which he himself inspired his thoughts on some prominent speakers also.

This is a re-echo of what he said under YouTube buffer screen.

He caught my interest knowing that as a young blood (supposedly doing his own teenage thing, skating, froli-gagging, partying whatsoever) here he is bugging himself with superbly perennial stuff.

Nevertheless, each of them has something to say – we know it. I believe faith and science are like wings of a bird necessary to flap its way up high – without the other it would be impossible to fly. Here, VenomFangX is fetching things on the side religion with shred sarcasm to evolution.

But, where do you stand?

Go ahead…

Actually, what you will be tabs on (if you’ll be patience) is actually a story of a “frog turns to a prince.” What?! A unison of science and fairy tale?

Yeah, I can even see your brows tossing up now.

The story could actually be prototype of the Theory Of Evolution. If you’ve been a once-upon-a-time fan of a story of the “Frog Prince,” then the theory of evolution has its own version. But, not with a kiss of a charming princess, rather a power incantation of “…billions and millions of years ago…”

When I was a kid, as I remember, we have stories in the form of “Alamat” on how land and water were hurl on space and made finally into earth; or how the heaven made mass of lands by throwing chunks of earth to the seas when they were actually quarrelling. At least that’s how alamat told us to be. But, when we come into the open, there are two revolutionary claims and exegesis on how really the world came to be. We happened to call them “humanism” on the scientific world view and “creationism” on the religious world view.

The Theory Of Evolution – it rings a bell – it reminds you of a single person, if I have to presume that’s what you are thinking right now – Charles Darwin, right? But, no, no, no. Darwin is just a progenitor of the pro-biological stage of evolution or the development and developed organism out of non-living one. You’ll find out later that the term evolution is not just secluded to Darwin’s theory but is a long and tricky word.

Clearly, Darwin doesn’t only own the Theory of Evolution but largely credited to every scientific opinion.

The Humanist world view starts by saying “wow all things great and small the Big Bang made them all.” While the Creationist commenced and says, “wow all things great and small God made them all.”

Two world views in one subject – origin of everything. One must be right, one must be wrong. This is tough.

Do we have to prove evolution is right, for religion to be wrong? Or religion to be right, for evolution to be wrong. One must be black for one to be white or either?

On the side of evolution, there are questions that would give us a second thought:

1. What is my worth and who am I?  

If evolution is true, you don’t actually worth anything. Your just a bunch of amoeba or something that is washed upon the shores, your nothing important. In fact since you are a polluter of the environment and a self-destructive individual, the more we can get rid of you, the better. It mustn’t hurt you since that is a normal evolutionary thinking.

2. Where did I come from? 

If evolution is true, you actually came from nothing and would just naturally go back to nothing. I guess the first question is enough to let you know that you’re nothing but just an effect of a cosmic flatulent billions of years ago – by mere accident. No more, no less. And that doesn’t’ give you much thinking of what will happen when you die, you know where you’re going to. Don’t expect evolution to give you further meaning to life here.

3. Why am I here, what am I doing here? 

If evolution is true, you’ll not be doing anything but seek pleasure – animalistic pleasure. That is how nature works with or in animals, and you came from animals, right? According to evolution you, the apes and the bananas are just one and of the same lineage. Secondly, you’re actually here on earth because there is no reason at all. If it feels good as well, then rob a bank, kill anybody you hate, rape anybody you like, smuggle government funds, make life miserable to anybody or do it as you may be pleased. After all, you’ll going to die someday and you might have missed the rest of your life. There is no meaning to life, right?!

4. Where am I going when I die?  

If evolution is true, umm, you know you came from bacteria, and in most cases you would probably be recycled into bacteria again or into an earthworm or amoeba or anything – or just nothing.

Now lets’s turn the canvass to the other side, and it said, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1). You know that we can have a very different set of response to these questions if creation is therefor true. Even if you are not fond (as nobody is) of skimming few pages of the Bible, at least you have the imperatives and notion of how the bible states the creation. As of now let’s devote a little more time on it.

Genesis 3:1 said, “…and the Serpent said unto the woman, yea hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Doubt is one of the enemies of faith, that’s why Satan ends his statement in question mark to shake Eve’s faith to doubt, as what Eve did. Sadly, that seed of doubt still reverberates up to the present generation.

Further, the Serpent said, “…ye shall not surely die,” (Genesis 3:4). Now the devil’s getting decisive, tough and cunning. His deceptive venom is now slowly eating up every fiber of Eve’s faithful faculty. The devil’s giving us an impression that God is a liar. The next thing out of the devil’s mouth is that, “…ye shall not surely die,” (Genesis 3:5).

The last statement of the devil is actually a pillar of evolution. It did not started out of Darwin’s mouth, Satan did it first which he instituted at the garden of Eden through the instrumentality of Eve. And I guess the final blow on Eve’s wobbling faith is when Satan said in Genesis 3:3, “…ye shall be as gods.”

From that departure you’ll see the difference now.

Ok, boys and girls we started as an amoeba, a primordial soap from a cosmic burp or whatever, then to an earthworm and then we are getting better and stronger and eventually we are becoming like superman, or a god – Satan is right.

The Bible states that we started as smart, intelligent individuals but ever since lost them because of sin. Evolution on the other hand said that we started stupid, short and yucky and from that we’re just getting stronger and better by stringing of traits of whatever genetic complexity.

Satan adds, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High,”(Isaiah 14:13-14).

Satan wants to be God. And he is looking for ways to establish his reign. Nonetheless, the job is not available for him to be God. So he hates God, but he can’t do anything to God. The smartest way that he could do is turn to us, he hates us in behalf of God. The Bible said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…,” (Genesis 1:26). You are made in the image and likeness of God. Every time Satan see you, you always reminds him of God. No wonder Satan hates you so much. And he is looking for the finest and the best way to pervert that lovely image of God in us, no other than to let us claim we came from animals.

Satan have a nice time on his couch laughing to his belly to individuals who have bitten the bait of evolution, ’cause he doesn’t believe it but he is glad that you do.

Evolution has long been taking its toll on every human consciousness. It is not only contained on thick and hard bound encyclicals but to every textbooks that we have in high school or even elementary.

I remember our history teacher explaining to us how homo sapiens, erectus, Java man and such and such came to a fuller human beings like us now. And a VS grade is so hard won.

Evolution is infiltrating every textbook in the world, seeding every young individual’s unguarded consciousness. Well, what better way is there to do it but found it on young minds. The earlier the seeding, the firmer the evolutionary root to take arrest of every one’s mental faculty.

Perhaps, few of those lies are in the textbooks, connecting to what once Adolph Hitler said, “if you tell a lie long enough, loud enough and often enough the people will believe it.” He adds, “the people are more likely to believe in a big lies than a small ones.” Bear in mind how big the things we are talking about. What can lies give, but another bunch of lies?

Teachers are taught to teach that the earth is at least 4.5 billion years old. One textbook says, “…earth has changed a lot since its formation 4.5 billion years ago and so on and so forth.” Try verifying these things in your own textbooks. Teachers themselves have been the prototype of the propagation of these things.

The problem is that, do the teachers know that or they just think that? Because if they say that they know that, then they must have been there 4.5 billion years ago. Obviously, they only think that since they could just have been an active or passive recipient of some evolutionary teachings some decades ago.

One inconsistencies of the theory of evolution is pointed out to be teaching that the earth is 10,000 years old during the 1800 and then by the early 1900 it was thought to be around 2 billion years old and now at dawn of the year 2000 it was thought to be 4.5 billion years old. If you have to stop and think about it, you’ll know that the earth is getting a daredevil aging process millions of years per year, and that’s simply ridiculous.

Evolution as a Tricky Word

Evolution contains at least six definitions. Darwin’s methodology is one of them.

Cosmic Evolution

Simply the origin of time, space and matter through the instrumentality of the ever famous Big Bang theory. So far it has not yet been proven. It is still a scientific guesswork and there is no way of confirming them true.

Chemical Evolution

This is their explanation of the origin of the higher elements from hydrogen. Which is not proven either since it’s (still) illogical to obtain life from non-living elements.

Stellar and Planetary Evolution 

This simply is the daughter of the Big Bang theory. The theory of how the stars and the planets are being formed. Still not proven logically. Nobody has seen a star or a planet being formed. They are pure fantasy and speculation arrayed together with your fairy tale series books.

Organic Evolution

The origin of life out of non-living materials. Otherwise known as Biogenesis. Which has been proven wrong couple of centuries ago. Spontaneous generation is impossible since there is no way of getting life out of barren and non-living materials.

Macro Evolution

Darwin’s greatest hits! The changing from one kind of animal to another. Of course not proven either. We have never seen a human being gave birth to a monkey or monkey gave birth to a human. We’ve never seen a snake gave birth to anything but a snake. We’ve never seen a cat gave birth to anything but a cat. We’ve never seen a mango that produced anything but a mango itself. Farmers always expect to harvest a banana every time they plant a banana, and they do.

Micro Evolution

 Which is proven at last. You pick a tiger, a cheetah or lion but they are still family of cats, in other words they belong to the same kind. But a mid-air consideration has to be considered. Since one of them might have been created separately from the others as is being pictured in the Biblical creation model.

There are in fact scientists who have been breeding and making some experiments on some common houseflies and hoping to find out when a housefly will eventually not be a housefly and turn into something else. But they are still making houseflies after all these years.

Animals, as we have learned from our evolutionary academic slot, change kinds. So from a frog one turns to a prince, though not by a magical kiss but an evolutionary incantation, “…billions and billions of years ago." Just as the revolutionary thought that we all came from monkeys and therefore look like monkeys.

The Biblical point-of-view simply explains, “…the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind…V.12…the living creature after his kind…V24.” The word kind is 10 times repeated in relation to the creation in the Bible. When we say kind, you can easily describe a tiger from a jaguar or a cheetah from a lion. So you might say, this is a lion kind, a cheetah kind, a jaguar kind and a tiger kind and so on. You have to admit it’s easier to logically think and classify that a tiger came from a tiger family rather than a tiger came from a lion or jaguar family which was a cause of evolutionary events.

So if you admitted, if I don’t believe in evolution what should I believe?

My foreword says, “….it’s either God made the world, or the world made itself…you have no other choice.”

Something must always exist, since the second proposition is logically impossible.

NOTHING can only creates NOTHING.

If you’ll try to check your textbook on how the universe came to be, they'll tell you exactly these word:

“…in the realm of the universe nothing really means nothing (wow, its science yet this is philosophically deep)…however this is theorized that from the state of nothingness, the universe begun in a gigantic explosion 16.5 billion years ago….” Wow, I thought I was just reading a classic fairy tale when I was just a kid.

You see that! From the STATE OF NOTHINGNESS the universe existed?!

A pre-schooler can without further introspection tell you that nothing can only create nothing. And yet, they still have the guts to wound hard bound books concerning this stuff – if everything came from nothing. Isn’t it that after they have uttered the word “nothing,” evolution must end there, and so with all their books and whatsoever they kept feeding us?

At this juncture, they’re teaching you fantasy – not science.

Ask someone who’s making a critical study on this matter and they’ll tell one and same thing. Science cannot further unto this realm because it’s outside of their little bubble. Their excuse is to tell you that from nothingness something must have existed – think about that! Science is as important as the air we breathe.

We all know how it did alleviated physical pains of this fallen world. Just one thing, science would sometimes seems to let us gobble tank-full of "laughing gas" which draw strange grins on our faces.

Nevertheless, bear in mind, we are not hating science here.

Everybody still loves science. I still love science the way I dreamt as a kid to fly to the moon one day. And I still love that dreaming, and I'm looking forward to that.

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ROMANCE IS IN THE AIR: VALENTINE TWEAKS

Valentine's Day, like any other celebrations, is one of the top notchers to be cherished and seems to give us nostalgic goose bumps every time it hits the town.

After we've watched Rudolph's flight last Christmas with its blushing-red nose, its blithe seems to dangle an extra mile over lovers rosy chicks. Let me coin this month (February) “a month to blush on.” Almost everybody just got a rosy-red impression on this month.

Ladies with gentlemen to expect, and so with those who do not have, seems to blush all the way once teased with a box of heavy-brown chocolates with a bundle of red red roses in front of their faces. Nonetheless, those expecting a date to no avail seem to blush the other way around.

Yeah, romance is in the air. Its aroma tickles every fiber of your soul, regardless if you are a passionate lover or not, or doesn't have time to care for a date and just let it pass by your window, or just wonder where the breeze of Valentine's Day came from.

Well, Saint Valentine is the big guy of this carnation month, wherein within the realm of the Catholic Church there are various Saint Valentines. Others that are at the least tell few romantic stories. Nonetheless, there are two major saints named Valentine, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Both are martyrs and both are saints and both are servants of the Church. They both deserved the credits, but as to the celebration, both names seem to dissolve to orchestrate with the season's romantic whisper.

Another story tells of a medieval period Saint Valentine who was persecuted because of his unwavering faith, when a Roman Emperor named Claudius II, lured him to his paganism. Saint Valentine was sentenced to be executed after he was caught secretly performing marriage which Emperor Claudius II prohibits in a belief that marriage doesn't make good soldiers after all. It was said that before his execution on the 4th of February 270, he dared able to write the first Valentine love letter to his beloved or the jailer's blind daughter he miraculously helped gain back her sight. The note read, “From Your Valentine.” There you go of the historic recap of how Valentine's Day took its shape amidst lovers’ enterprise.

They said that the most unfortunate person in the world is the one who doesn't know how to love, nobody to love and nobody loves him in return. At least I've never met yet a single person in my life like this. However, if you are the person who does simply the opposite of these, then you’re the man!

Valentine's Day is expressed by lovers in multifarious ways, I presume, even to the upper limits of their romantic creativity. Some do it with the most perennial, basic to crucial move, no other than dating. Others do give flowers and chocolates, others made it to the movie houses, others to candle light dinner, others hugs and kisses and others made all through it at the same time. You might be on your best foot on red roses and candy bars to tickle her sweet tooth; well, great! But won't you mind if we offer you some Valentine Tweaks that might give your sweetie a giggle to the bones? Absolutely, yes!

So here you go. If you're to date over the shade of a dimly light bulb, why not try spraying a fragrance over it. The fragrance last for considerable moments that you're there.

Second, kiss her hand. Reason why this is a tweak is that this act is atypical of us Filipinos; we do not usually do this. Nevertheless, when you try to kiss her hand for once in a while that you met, kiss her hand by bending yourself down. Do not pull her hand to your lips.

Third, you've been thanking and praising her for thousand of times without being so aware of the persons who brought her down to you. So why not give some simple “thank you” presents to her parents too?

Fourth, red roses speak a lot during Valentine's Day. Yeah, just do the moves, only that, make it a little bit unique this time. Give her say, nine red roses and one white rose. Put the white rose at the center of the red roses, or as you maybe pleased. Attach a note saying, “Your beauty stands out among the roses of the fields.”

Fifth, a little love note written and inserted on a book she's reading can give you a major plus factor unto her imagining.

And thousand things to do tweaks for your Valentine romances, as long as this page can hold. The most important thing is that – you really don't have to wait for Valentine's Day to spend a little more time with your sweetheart. Make it an everyday occasion. A true lover is irrespective of occasions just to show a genuine affection and love.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

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The Best, if not the Finest PHILIPPINE SUMMER GETAWAYS

Bayang magiliw, perlas ng silanganan. Alab ng puso, sa dibdib mo'y buhay...”

Goes the ever endearing and brave commencement line of our very own Philippine National Anthem. The first two lines though, best describe how the Philippine archipelago is nestled at the globe's majestic seat like a comely crystalline pearl cozily laid at the breast of a clam shell. The universe must have spent a little more time on her; with her most favorable geographic throne in the face of the planet, with teaming aquamarine resources, with brimming over natural resources and exceptional array of crystal clear sand beaches. Truly – the Pearl of he Orient Seas!

The Philippine archipelago is comprised of lovely juxtaposed 7, 107 islands, and not just islands, they are islands that gleam from without courtesy of beautiful beaches and seashores all around it. Thus, Philippines is sometimes quoted as the “beach capital of Asia.”

The Philippine geographical orientation is the Southeast of Asia, western Pacific Ocean. The temperature may reach up to 38 degree Celsius; obviously it is a hot and humid country with only two seasons – summer and rainy.

The Philippine coastline is said to double that of the United States. With her thousand islands, you won't kick ass with the other tourist for a slot just to frolic on the beach. In fact, most of the beaches that we have here weren't uncovered yet. For those beaches that have been flagged by us and by different investors, we've picked handfuls of them just for your information.


EL NIDO, PALAWAN
El Nido is a first-class municipality at the province of Palawan, 420 kilometers southwest of Manila. El Nido protects and manages resource protected areas, especially marine resources and white beaches. The potpourri of seascapes and landscapes with marvelous naturally carve formations would give you the impression that gods must have once frolicked these places. It is often referred to as the Islands of the Gods. Because of it's remoteness from among all the beaches in the Philippines it is also considered as the Philippines' Last Frontier. Before setting foot on its soil, you have gone to other beaches from Aklan, to Cebu to Bohol and so on.

Here's one prestige for El Nido, on November – December issue of the National Geographic Traveler's Magazine El Nido has been recommended as one of the best travel destination in the world.


PANGLAO, BOHOL
Don't mistake Panglao for its small size over its beauty and diversity. For from its size comes condensed lush of natural blessedness.

Panglao is part of Bohol mumicipality an island divided into two, Panglao and Dauis located southwest of the island of Bohold and eastern part of Cebu.

Panglao is a diver's den and home to thousands of bio-diversified species of sea creatures, such as crustaceans and mollusks. Divers enjoy hot shots over these marine creatures.

Clear beaches are just one of the natural signatures of Panglao in Bohol. Or you might as well hobnob to the same nearest paradise valley such as the Chocolate Hills, waterfalls and of course the blithe of the city of Tagbilaran.


PAGUDPUD, ILOCOS NORTE
Pagudpud on the other hand, is sometimes coined as the 'Boracay of the North', perhaps with due credit to its white and sugary sand. What is notable about it is the windy ambiance of the beach cuddling considerable waves tossing up few surf boards from wave surfing enthusiasts. Going to Hawaii, might not make sense anymore due to the equal offer Pagudpud beach offers to individuals and tourist alike.

Pagudpud is located at the tip part of Luzon a kilometer more and you're out to more scattered islands of the northern horizons. The beach got fewer visitors than the usual beaches we have, perhaps because of its winding access toward that nevertheless did not compromise its beauty. Maira-Ira Point is a notable attraction with it's exclusive beach called Blue Lagoon.


SIARGAO ISLAND
Siargao is Surigao Del Norte's beacon harbor that lures thousands of tourists as well. The crystal clear salt water mirrors the island's caring people on environmental welfare.

Besides, majestic high tossing waves shows a grandiose welcome to pleasure monger individuals at a “cloud 9 level.” A wave that slushes to perfect curls made it the apple of the eye for tourist and surf boarder enthusiasts. The place then became the crown of event for the annual Siargao Cup for international and national surfing competition.

Siargao in Surigao Del Norte has been gifted not only with fine of the finest beach but also with busy tossing waves making her the Surfing Capital of the Philippines.

MALAPASCUA ISLAND, CEBU
Malapascua is a tiny glittering pearl at the northernmost tip of Cebu City, part of Daanbantayan Municipality.

Malapascua lies only 2.5 kilometer long and a kilometer wide. Small when it comes to her geographical share. Takes only few kilometers yet the natural blessedness dangles miles and miles.

Malapascua possess richness of biodiversity which has the best ambiance for diving and snorkeling. Scattered coral gardens are like paradise from within the sea. The tiny white sands they call Bounty Beach, graces every visitors with satisfying ocular gratifications. Plus, if you've be luckier enough, sightings of stings rays and sharks.

BORACAY BEACH, KATIKLAN
And who would dare miss this graceful island at the Northwestern tip of Panay in Western Visayas. Boracay, I guess spearheads among all other beaches in the country. A 4 kilometer smooth sandy white sands and crystal clear water justifies natural praises that she receives from who ever meets her supple shores.

The island now is highly commercialized, particularly those near the beach. You can be at the Boracay island with still the convenience of the city life – hotels, bars, shopping and ATM machines.

Scuba diving and snorkeling are few of the best attraction in this island paradise, besides local celebrities occasionally frolicking on the same sand as other ordinary visitors. Some commercial as well as showbiz events are also held in this spot of the archipelago.

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FREE HUGS: The Most Important Thing In Life Is Free

More than any amount of healing agents in the world's confusions, sometimes all we really need is a hug. A hug to patch and mend some of our deepest wounds – war, terrorism, discrimination and disparity.

Where it all did began? Well, it all started with just a single hug, yeah a single hug! Then comes another, then another, then some more – and the 'worlds' become one soul in two bodies.

Free Hugs Campaign is a social action or movement with the involvement of different individuals offering free hugs to strangers in different places. Though, free hugs could be done by anybody else, either you're a stranger or a friend, a relative, or loved ones. Free Hugs was started by an Australian known by his pseudonym “Juan Mann.” Free Hugs started when Juan Mann was going back home with his luggage of clothes and troubles. “I'd been living in London when my world turned upside down and I'd had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles. No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown,” Juan Mann started the story. Mann describes how he was so orphaned at that time. His face can only afford to witness friends and families with dangling smiles on their faces and wide arms opened hugging and laughing with each other. “...I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me,” as he describes his lonely scenario at the terminal. He continued, “So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words "Free Hugs" on both sides.”

His initial action would seems so grotesque that he himself might notice as well. Nonetheless, he is as resolute as a hopeless romantic. His first move was crucial, pushing himself towards the crowd wondering what he really wants and what he really means. “And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person, who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling,” as he minced the first hug with a distress individual with him on the pedestrian. Before they parted ways, her smile seems to be a beaconing harbor that entices some others to come close to Mann and avail his free hugs.

There were much blithe in the place, ebbing out the gloomy atmosphere like the morning sun would do. In few more minutes that crowd was overwhelming. Everybody seems to feel what Mann has felt when he arrived at the terminal. They found themselves tossing up the cardboard and enveloping strangers with arms-wide and warm embraces. Man or woman, young or old, black or white, friend or stranger – they are altogether confined in a warm and heartwarming nook of this free hugging phenomenon.

This simple act of tenderness sparked and mushroomed world wide, so to say, like a consuming fire. But before anything else gets official, Free Hugs was actually banned on October of 2004 by authorities for some other perhaps, lawful reasons. But who would dare stop a human heart's hunger for affection and warm fondle? I guess nobody does, not even the guards. Highly technological connectivity seems to alienate personal ones, but not anymore. The 10, 000 petitions and signs garnered by Juan Mann has been an objective evidence of those hungry hearts and the campaign to move on. Free Hugs was allowed to continue without strings attached from any sectors charging them of public liability and red tape.

June 30, 2004, Juan Mann formally gives regular free hugs in the Pitt St. Mall in central Sydney, where at this point he felt the most difficult and trying times of his life, if not only for a hug or two.

The dawn of the Free Hugs campaign was beginning to take toll in Australia but was heralded further through its video plug at YouTube, courtesy of the Band Sick Puppies. When Mann's grandmother died, the band gave him a music video to console him; the video later became famous at YouTube. The video contains the Free Hugs theme “All The Same” by Shimon Moore of Sick Puppies after Juan Mann befriended and welcomed him into the Free Hug folds.

Mann's advocacy did not miss Oprah Winfrey's show scope. On October 30, 2006 Mann was invited by Oprah for an hour of show. Obviously, the show is over even before it has started. Mann offers free hugs to the audiences outside the studio eager to see the show.

Juan Mann continued his spirited effort through on mostly web mediums. He has his e-book “The Illustrated Guide To Free Hugs” available for free download. He also hosts an on-line chat for those who wish for some conversation with him. Nonetheless, on August 23, 2009, through his Facebook he announced that he is “retiring” relieving himself of any rights regarding the Free Hugs concepts including the funds. He knows that the torch of the movement he started will keep burning even without him holding the baton. His predecessor will assume the same responsibilities he has undergone.

Juan Mann declared that the day would fall on the first Saturday following June 30 annually; this is in connection to the first date where he offered his free hugs in Pitt Street Mall in Sydney in 2004. Nonetheless, the First International Free Hugs Day was July 7, 2007, then the next year was July 5, 2008 and in 2009 it was held July 4.

Free Hugs spawn and scattered like a wild infectious disease to infect lonely spirits around the world. A college student, Yu Tzu-Wei began a campaign in Taipei to “hug everyone in Taiwan.” In 2006, Free Hugs campaign started in Tel Aviv, Israel. And so on in Colorado, Italy, China, Ireland, Korea and still counting on.

In France, to ease out discrimination with those infected with AIDsS or HIV, Free Hugs has been advocated by the French Government

I've been into this hugging spree for quit sometime when me and my relatives attended a charismatic gathering one Sunday. The atmosphere was filled with radiance at that time. It's overwhelming. It's like strangers were peeled off from the scene and all are one in friendly harmony. I hugged one, two, three and more. It's such a heartwarming experience, I don't feel shy. It doesn't matter if your young or old tall or short (though one man bent over me), man or woman – everybody seems to have familiar faces with such kind of experience.

Free Hugs campaign has been embraced by lots of individuals around the globe, either secular or religious. It is welcomed with the warmest embrace not because it is some sort of other political or collective movements, but because it isn't just a hug, it is the unity of everyone's soul. It is the longings of the severed spiritual connectivity and oneness of every human enterprise. After all, when all else are in confusion, all we really need is a “Free Hug” to understand and to be understood.

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