Hitchhiking thoughts

[beth_leonard]

When I was little and people sometimes still hitch-hiked my mom told me never to pick up hitch-hikers and never to hitch-hike. I got it in my head that doing either of these things was a bad-guy type of thing to do. And then one day my mom picked up two young girls hitch-hiking. She explained to me that she did it because she didn't want the girls to get hurt, and this added some nuance to my world view.

When I was a teenager, I was riding with an uncle from a small town without my parents present from one part of a family gathering to the after-party. He told me how he had picked up a hitch-hiker that morning and had done his good deed for the day. My worldview changed yet again. I never thought someone could think picking up random hitchhikers and just helping people out was a "good" thing to do.

Several years ago before I had kids, I was traveling past midnight in the snow and I saw a wrecked car on the side of the road, and a few blocks later saw a hitch-hiker. He smelled of booze and I asked if it was his car back there. He said it wasn't he was just walking home, but I made a judgement call and picked him up anyway and drove him into town. It was freezing and I was concerned for his safety. Parts of me still feel guilty for having done that, it was dangerous and "wrong" from my childhood world-view. But then a few weeks ago, there was a widely publicized story about a missing Lake Tahoe girl, who was later found dead of exposure after leaving a New Year's Eve party at which she had been drinking. I think I did the right thing.

Life isn't the same set of "right" and "wrong" that we teach our kids. There is so much more nuance to it.

--Beth

Comments

[feuervogel]

I never got the message that hitchhiking or picking up hitchhikers was wrong or bad, just that it was dangerous and I, as a girl, was likely to get raped and/or murdered if I did.

[helencoleman.livejournal.com]

So true. And I still make judgment calls. We want to protect our children while at the same time reach out to others. But NEVER pick up hitchhikers by state prisons (as the signs warn)!!!