Traveling Strangers

When I was a little girl I would look out the windows of the car as one of my parents would drive. I loved to count the lines on the road or play silly car games with my younger brother. Bug was our favorites. You would yell "bug" as quick as you could whenever you would see a Voltzwagon Beetle and the person with the most at the end of the trip wins. I loved beating him. While looking out the windows I would not only see the normal scenery ,but also the first clue some people are not as well off as my family. We were the typical average middle class family. Mostly it would be men standing on the side of the road with a sign or a thumb in the air. I did ask about them like any child does. Then I got the info. " That's hitch hiker. They do not have a car and they are trying to go somewhere. Or... That is a person who doesn't have a home or job and they want you to give them money, food, a job etc." I was a very empathetic child and have grown to be an empathic adult. It breaks my heart to know we can spend a billion dollars on a plane for war but we have people living on the street. As I grew older I did learn that some of them were just out to con you or hurt you. There were so many stories I heard about the girls who picked up the hitch hikers and were never seen again. I also saw with my own eyes the homeless guy who swore he was hungry, had no job and no home ,get into a car newer than mine and take off down the road. Then I became old enough to drive. I got the lecture almost every sixteen year old girl gets. DON'T PICK UP STRANGERS!!!!!

This past weekend I was riding in my SUV with my current "friend with benefits" I'll call him Mark for the sake of the story. Mark and I were in my truck and I was relaxing to some music. As I said in my previous blog the weather here was horrible. Rain would come down heavy then lighten up. He was driving and was on the ramp to the expressway when he pulled the truck over into the median and told this strange guy climb on in. I was mortified!!!!! All the years of my parents warnings were banging in my head. I could see this guy being some psychopathic killer leaving me and Mark on the side of the road dead. Or worse yet somewhere I would never be found. No one would know where I was or what had happened to me. I was totally freaked out!!! Since the guy had just climbed in and Mark took off down the road, I sat in stony silence grasping at a pen in my pocket. It was the only thing handy I could think of that would cause enough damage for me to get away if needed. As we drove down the road Mark pulled the guys story from him. I listened.

Seems he was on his way back home. He was from Minnesota and had been out of work for some time. His friend who is a truck driver told him that there were a lot of jobs down in Mississippi and he would give him a lift. They guy went down and when he got there the jobs available were low paying and hard labor. He decided he just wanted to go back home. You could hear the North in his voice and his excitement at being almost 1/2 way there. We dropped him off at a gas station about 8 miles from where we picked him up. He was very grateful and appreciative. When he went to shake my hand I slipped him a 20 dollar bill and his eyes welled up with tears. He turned a little red and thanked me for my generosity. I know I am having a really hard time financially and could not afford to be handing out money, but if I was in his shoes I would appreciate the help as well. What goes around comes around. Maybe he will do something nice for someone else.

I don't think I am going to go around picking up hitch hikers on a regular basis. I probably will not pick one up on my own ever again but I am grateful to have met someone to show me as bad as I may think I have it someone else may be struggling even more. You can always give a lending hand. I hope you meet a stranger that makes you want to reach out with kindness and thank God for all your blessings. I did.