So the other day, I left work after a full day of slinging cardboard boxes in my then dirty grey tanktop, got in my old, rusty, filthy Subaru, put on WTF with Marc Maron (podcast) and started my hour long drive for home.
I saw a hitch hiker a few miles from work.
I waved, shrugged, as if to say "Sorry, Dude! I'm a woman in her car by herself, very tired after a long day of work and I gotta get home to my family!"
I looked in my rear view mirror, saw him sweatily raise his thumb at the next car behind me and thought "Bahhh, he'll be alright. Surely someone will stop and take pity on a middle aged dude with a bald head, full beard and tie-dyed t-shirt on a super hot day"
And I kept driving.
Then the guilt set in. I thought "He kind of looked like my good friend, So N So. I bet he's an alright dude if he looks like my friend So N So. I wonder what he's doing hitching a ride like that. Probably just trying to get to the middle of nowhere from the airport in Albany."
And I kept driving.
Then more guilt set in "Why didn't I stop and pick that guy up, anyway? Because I'm afraid. I'm afraid I won't get home fast enough and my family will say FUCK IT and leave me. I'm afraid this random guy who I don't know will harm me in some way. I'm afraid of this guy. I'm afraid of some guy who is just a fellow human being as far as I'm concerned: a guy who's never done anything to harm me in any way."
And that got me wondering about my faith in humanity. I mean I try to have it, I express that I think other people should have it. Is there some reason I don't.
Uh yeah. There are plenty of reasons I shouldn't have it, but I'm still hanging in there. I'm still hanging on to the faith that humanity is wholesome and good.
So I turned around.
I drove the several miles back to the turnaround where I could get back on the other side of the highway and pick that sweaty hitch hiker up.
I pulled over, I said "Sorry I didn't pick you up before, but then I thought about how you look like my friend So N So and I thought it's so fucking hot today, and I had to turn around and come pick you up"
He was glad I did, said Sunday's not a good day for hitch hikin', everybody's out travelin' with their families. His brother never picked him up from Albany, he's going to Richfield, his dog just ran away, he used to drive some equipment, blah blah blah and stranger silence all the way to the Stewarts in Richfield where he was hoping to charge his phone and get ahold of his asshole brother who left him stranded before.
I took a leap of faith in humanity. And it worked out.
I'm not condoning hitch hiking or picking up hitch hikers.
I'm just telling about a time I actively participated in my faith in humanity. A positive experience where everything worked out.
Link of the Day:
http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast
Oh yeah, and I got home and told Brendan, who said, "Cool!" ... "I mean, don't do it again, but, cool!"
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