The Open Road

A couple days ago, I hitchhiked after the tendons in my shin were about to buckle.  The fourth car that passed my way picked me up.  The man and woman in the car were well traveled and were of refined character.  It was a singular experience, that split second decision to ride with complete strangers – the moment in which my heart stopped and my mind blanked, where the visceral led me – and it was the ride of my life.

There are those who decide to abandon picking up hitchhikers because it can be quite perilous.  The person or persons that decide to do this assume the dangers of theft, rape, and murder.  One that is able to do such is both bold and altruistic.  The well-being of another stands above his own safety and comfort.  I would analogize it, to a lesser extent, to saving a person from a burning building.  It is during times like these that the benevolence and goodwill of humanity are shown, where man’s character will be judged, dissected, and forever be emblazoned across time. America’s pastime seems very much alive, even if the murderers and rapists have ruined the once glorious image.

My faith in humanity has been restored.  I believe it is still possible for system wide change, and that history will not repeat itself as long as there are those who are willing to defiantly step out and evoke this change.  I’ll leave you with an aphorism from C.S. Lewis:

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

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