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Hitchhiking thoughts
Jan. 23rd, 2013 09:12 amWhen 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
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
