That was another day, in a big city, of these common ones, which we found scattered throughout the country.

The usual urgency made the sidewalks crowded with people, who ran, in their daily worries.

It was no different with her. She was hurrying out of the subway, aiming at the grand avenue that would lead her to her appointments.

And there were so many. From memory, she was going over the script of the tasks she was about to perform in the next few hours.

The escalators led her to the sidewalk and to an unexpected encounter.

Right in front of her, a young man. The face hid behind the dirt. The jutting eyes denounced the use of narcotics. The raggedy clothes indicated the abandonment of everything.

Her first reaction was fear, defense.

She gave her a frightened look, as she brought both hands to her purse, in a protective movement.

He looked at her with the remaining lucidity he still had, and said: I do not want anything, I will not take anything.

The young man´s reaction surprised her. She hoped he would rip off her purse, announce a burglar, make some gesture of violence.

The surprise made her change her body posture. It also changed her gaze.

He then completed the sentence: I just wanted some money for the next dose.

The pain with which that phrase was said broke her heart. She thought about how that life was fading into unhappy dependence.

What to do for him?

Immediately, the lessons of the Gospel of Jesus came to mind.

At the thought, the sentence came to her mouth, almost without reasoning, but full of feeling: I can not, I do not want to give you the money for the next dose, but I can give you a hug.

Without the young man´s understanding of what was going on, she hugged him. And she stood like this, embracing him, long.

It was some eternal seconds, which moved both to tears.

She was pitied by the disillusioned young man. He was shocked by the unexpected gesture of love.

As he turned away from the hug, still surprised by the affectionate, fraternal gesture he received, he confessed:

I was about to kill myself. Nothing else was worth in my life. I no longer recognized myself as a person. I lived a life of animals, and was treated as such.

You reminded me that I am a person, you treated me, as it had not happened for a long time: like a person. Thank you so much!

And just as he appeared, he disappeared into the crowd. She stood there, letting herself flood with tears, glad for having followed her impulse of love.

*    *    *

This is how one learns to love. Treating others, no matter whom, as we would have them do with us, or with one of ours.

Overcome fear, offer what we have the best in the heart, even for the time of a hug.

Sometimes, that is just what a stranger needs from us. A word of optimism, a generous smile, a look of understanding.

Little caresses, capable of alleviating pains and treating wounds, of which we all carry in our soul.

Spiritist Moment Team, based on a fact
narrated in the XIX Conferência Estadual Espírita, by
Divaldo Pereira Franco, in Pinhais, state of Parana,
Brazil, in March of 2017.
January 21.2019.