UVALDE, Texas — Marisa Miranda knows what it feels like to need a hug. She said her family has experienced violence, death and trauma.
“If my granny didn’t love me as much as she did, I might be doing crazy things too,” she said.
Miranda drove three hours from Georgetown to Uvalde, to provide comfort to a grieving community. She said with each hug, she’s absorbing someone’s pain.
The tragedy that unfolded on May 24, which left 21 people dead, hits close to home.
“I’m from a Latino family and I see myself in all these kids. I see myself in all their families. I even see myself in the shooter,” Miranda said. “He’s hurting, and young, and comes from a broken family. I know what it’s like to have a hug just make your day. So I just wanted to come and offer free hugs.”
Nine-year-old Maya Zuniga took her up on that. She said she’s scared to go to school, and knows what it’s like “to lose someone you loved the most.”
Zuniga and her mom, Angel Perez, drove from Sealy to visit the memorial in Uvalde. Perez said, through tears, that she’s afraid to drop off Zuniga at school.
“I tell her I love her. I give her a kiss, not knowing if she’s going to come home, just like the rest of these kids who didn’t make it home that day,” Perez said.
The only thing that would make her feel better is stricter gun laws.
“Stop the gun violence, please. Make it stop. So many kids have died,” she pleaded. “So many innocent people have died at the grocery store. Stop. They’re killing our kids. Not only that, the elderly. Everyone. Just stop the killings, please.”
Miranda said her goal was to hug just one person, but that she lost count after three dozen. She knows the pain felt in Uvalde won’t ever go away, but she hopes that hugs might provide some relief, even if it’s fleeting.
“Just feeling it in your bones, and then hugging someone who also feels it in their bones, that connects you. Like they’re seen. Their pain is felt. And it feels less lonely, I think,” she said.