Once upon a time, on the banks of a river, lived a bunch of happy people. They loved their friendly town with its beautiful trees, fields and homes. The residents had a special tradition of trading warm fuzzies with each other. Warm fuzzies were like little balls of pure love that made everyone feel good all over.
People would offer warm fuzzies freely, and if you needed one all you had to do was ask. Even people you didn’t know would reach into their pockets and pull out a warm fuzzy and just give it to you. Every warm fuzzy was like a big hug from a friend. There were always plenty of warm fuzzies to go around. Everyone felt safe and loved and they all helped each other to feel safe and loved.
Professionals in businesses and offices shared warm fuzzies with their clients and employees. There was never a shortage of warm fuzzies, and everyone was eager to share with anyone and everyone they met.
School students loved sharing warm fuzzies in their classrooms, halls, and football fields. Warm fuzzies were handed out in abundance at every school in the town and in all the surrounding countryside.
Community leaders were known to distribute warm fuzzies with everyone they met on the streets of the town. Neighbors would always be certain to share warm fuzzies with those who resided nearby. And when a citizen of the town passed a friend or a stranger on the city’s sidewalks, they would incessantly offer them warm fuzzies. Every resident, young, old or in between, loved giving and receiving warm fuzzies.
But one day a grouchy, grumbly, mumbly, cold prickly tourist came to visit in the community. He didn’t understand what everyone was doing but he was sure he didn’t like it. He kept cold pricklies in his pockets. Warm fuzzies didn’t make any sense to him so he decided that he would trick the residents and convince them to stop with all that warm fuzzy business.
The grouchy tourist told the citizens that their warm fuzzies were the most precious things in the world. He told them that instead of sharing them, they should be keeping them. What if the world’s supply of warm fuzzies ran out? What would they do then? He sneakily began distributing cold pricklies which did not make people feel warm and fuzzy but made them feel cold and prickly instead.
Suddenly, the people began worrying and acting selfishly, keeping their warm fuzzies to themselves. Then a strange thing happened. When people stopped sharing their warm fuzzies, people stopped receiving warm fuzzies. Instead of everyone feeling warm and fuzzy inside, they started to feel cold and prickly. This made everyone kind of sad, everyone except for that grouchy tourist that is.
Soon others were handing out cold pricklies, keeping their warm fuzzies safely tucked away. They had been fooled that the warm fuzzies were in short supply and cold pricklies were the only substitute. People became less generous, more greedy, and well, quite sad.
Thank goodness something nice happened next. You see, one of the former residents came home to visit and brought her warm fuzzies with her. When she arrived home, she started giving warm fuzzies to everyone she saw. The people realized what they were missing and that they had made a huge mistake. Holding onto their warm fuzzies didn’t make them happier, it made them miserable. And cold pricklies were just awful! They realized that giving their warm fuzzies away not only made their friends happy, it made them happy too.
The good news is that we can be just like that community. We can give warm fuzzies, the imaginary orbs of happiness and love. You see, when we offer a kind word or help someone feel better, that’s the best kind of warm fuzzy there is.
Adapted from the original story by Claude Steiner.