Excellent reflections, Scot. I had similar, but more limited, experiences myself. The obvious question is are we, as a people, better off avoiding the (occasional -- how occasional?) theft, rape, and murder by also avoiding the human contact. Let's make it even more abstract. Once risks have been fully recognized and quantified at what point does avoiding them cheapen our lives? At what point do we refuse to be manipulated by those interests that benefit from scaring us? Listening to the national news these days you'd think that human being deserve to have sunny weather (or no more than light rain) and park-like forests and, if not, we were all heros for enduring the obvious resulting pain...

I used to hitch from Amherst to Boston in the mid-70s almost every week for a couple of years. You'd just write "Boston" on a piece of cardboard with a magic marker and go stand out on the main road out of town. Never had much of a problem getting a ride. I hardly ever see hitchhikers anymore and I haven't picked one up in a long time, mostly because there's always a pile of junk on the passenger seat.

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Scot! My brother! What an excellent column. Growing up in a family where we had one car and my father worked 20 miles away on the second shift, getting around was always a challenge. I started hitching in grade school in the mid-1950s, continued in college and grad school through 1970. I hitched a ride from New York to Boston on a Tall Ship for the bicentennial. Beat that! I still feel pangs of regret that these often felicitous meetings are denied us in the present day. One element in my experience was that a disproportionate percentage of people that gave me rides were black. As I got older and had the occasional car, I always enjoyed reciprocating for the thousand rides I had from generous strangers earlier in my life. Memories are flooding back...I'll spare you. Thanks.

I hitch-hiked across the country many times as a high school and college student in the 1960's and mostly had a great time. People of all kinds picked me up and often fed me. I only had a few close calls with a few weird people out of hundreds and learned a lot about the country and traveled thru 48 states. Some offered me work, places to stay, introducations to their families, and more. Some police let me stay overnight in their jail to keep out of the rain. So it's sad that so much has changed that I would not recommend youth to do the same today, and I rarely see hitch-hikers. Today, with the problems of global warming, traffic jams, and spotty public transporation, I think we could develop a local system of "approved hitch-hikers" and "approved drivers" that could improve local public transportation. So many people drive and communte alone and if there were a safe, quick system of "hitch-hiking" we could create community, improve public transportation, save gas, money and maybe even make some new friends. Want to work on this? Give me a call: Michael Jacoby Brown

I hitch-hiked across the country as a high school and college student in the 1960's and had a great time and learned a lot. People of all kinds picked me up. Many fed me, offered me work, places to work and stay overnight. Some police offered me a brief stay in jail to keep me out of the rain. I doubt if it is as safe today and that is too bad. But with our problems of traffic jams, global warming, and spotty public transpotation, perhaps we can create a system of safe "hitch-hiking" -- with a system of "safe hitch-hikers" and "safe drivers." This would help traffic problems, climate change, and improve our "public transportation system." Instead of waiting for the bus in the rain, a "hitch-hiker" with a means of identifying him/her as "safe" and a driver with similar means, we could save money, decrease traffic problems, and maybe even make a new friend. Want to try? Michael Jacoby Brown

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us - if at all - not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men.

I was thinking that someone should send TheSystemWorked some decaff...but it is probably a computer. If not, then he was the kind of guy who never had to hitchhike and looked down his nose at both those that did and those who, with a smile on their face, pulled over and simply asked, "Where ya headin'?" Human warmth and generosity is a wonderful thing to experience. Come to think of it...he is probably the kind of guy who sped up as he was going by you.

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

Thanks for all the comments, guys. Nahant: You got me. That sounds like the best ride ever. HH: I've had people try to convert me more than once myself ... but it was usually worth the ride ... Waytoo. Can't you take a break for the holiday?

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