In my younger days, not only might I have picked up a hitch hiker “back then”, I myself used to hitch. Yes, I surely did. Not often, but I did if necessary, and I don’t mean just to go down the street. Short distances we would just walk. No, when I hitched, I hitched to cities far away. My brother hitched all the way from Indiana to California! But alas, my brother and I, we were on the very edge of the end of an era. I would never hitch today.
In my little boyhood world of north central Indiana, stopping to help a stranded motorist was normal behavior… it was being a good citizen to help a stranger in need. Today, it bothers me to drive past someone stopped at the edge of the road. Oh, I keep on driving, but not without wondering if I might have been able to help. It takes a few miles down the road for the feeling to pass that maybe I should have at the least stopped to see if everyone was OK.
Once a few years ago, as I was exiting I-75 south of Detroit, I noticed someone with a flat tire at the edge of the ramp struggling to get the lug nuts loose. I was stopping before I even knew what I was doing. Joni was clearly wondering if I had lost my mind as I got out of our car and headed back to assist this stranded motorist. However, on my way back, I first stopped at the rear of my SUV and opened the back gate. From inside my vehicle I retrieved a large metal pipe that I carry for just such a need: added leverage. That day, however, my “leverage” pipe would serve two purposes. As I walked toward the motorist, I found myself subconsciously swinging the pipe in such a way as to notify the stranger that if he intended me any personal harm, I would not surrender without getting in a few licks of my own… my pipe could and would be used as a weapon if necessary. Fortunately for all involved, that did not become necessary.
Years ago, we stopped to help a stranded motorist in the belief that when and if we, or someone we loved, ever personally “needed a hand” that our having previously planted some seeds of helpfulness would then result in us being able to harvest help when we were in need. I grew up believing that there was this unseen power of giving and receiving that sort of hovered over the things we did. I believed that this unseen power provided balance and justice to our lives. If we did a favor, favor would return. Let me be quick to add, that I would have never taken money for an act of kindness shown to a stranger. No! That would have ruined it. If I took so much as a dime, it would have meant that my “favor returned” would have been nullified by the great unseen “equalizer” who was in charge of these things.
Today, you are on your own, and so am I. You don’t trust me, and you know what, that’s fine with me, ‘cause I don’t trust you either. And I know that you don’t trust me so much, that given half a chance you will drag me into court and sue me because of my negligence that you know is lurking just beneath the surface of my all too kind demeanor.
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