I dont have extensive hitchhiking experience—I missed that era when it was more common (b. 1998)—but all of those experiences have been out of necessity rather than pleasure. Thumbing for rides has been an extremely useful tool to fall back on when I find myself in tough situations, but it’s hard to imagine relying on hitchhiking in the US for anything other than a last resort.
That said, all of my experiences with drivers have been positive so far. It helps that I always have an easily comprehendible problem to relate to the drivers; I don’t have to explain why I am thumbing for a ride beyond that.
The first time I dabbled was when my car broke down on a rural interstate highway around 2016. I was a newly-licensed driver, and at the time I didn’t have a cell phone. I thumbed for a short while on the shoulder, and a truck driver gave me a lift to the next town where I was able to sort things out.
I was highly conscious of the whole spectacle, and yeah, given the combo of single teenage white girl and car in disrepair it did not take long for someone to stop. I was really fearful of predators, but I couldn’t see any way of resolving that situation that didn’t involve getting into the car of a stranger.
I’ve since hitchhiked in other situations where I didn’t have car issues, but always out of necessity. I feel much safer when I’m not alone on the road, of course. I’d like to try hitchhiking for pleasure at some point, but it seems the US is just not the place to do that.
I'm really intrigued by how Oppenheimer understood duty through poetry and spiritual texts. It's fitting he so deeply related to Arjuna and the idea of a life structured by action. That is, one's duty to act in a certain way, with consequences holding lower priority. Sobering stuff.
As noted in the article, Historian James A. Hijiya proposed that Oppenheimer believed “It was the duty of the scientists to build the bomb, but it was the duty of the statesman to decide whether or how to use it.”
Escalating from "I just work here" to "It's my existential duty" is a dangerous game to play, but I suppose it was a dangerous time.
I'm writing this comment from my university's library, so I checked out the stacks and found a book for those interested in learning more about this from a philosophical standpoint: Oppenheimer's Choice: Reflections from Moral Philosophy (2006) by Richard Mason. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292499015_Oppenheim...
I will highlight once in a while, but only a particular sentence or phrase that I want to sit back and focus on for a moment.
Another quirk I've noticed is that I always scroll more than necessary while reading. It feels odd to have the text I've just read sitting at the top of the screen, so I scroll down to get it out of my view.
Maybe it's an ergonomic preference; it feels better to look at the top of the screen rather of the lower half (I work on a laptop with no stand). Whenever I am sharing focus on a screen with someone and I notice they are reading all of the visible text on the screen before scrolling, I realize how particular my habit is.
@HEmanZ Your point about reducing judgement resonates with me.
I noticed that I rarely think negatively of people who appear awkward, and always admire those who appear to accept their awkwardness and move on rather than fighting hard to rid themselves of it for the sake of others' preferences.
Recognizing that I don't judge other people's awkward moments allows me to apply that same acceptance to my own imperfections. I view myself through my own eyes, not what I think others see when they look at me.
Sometimes I have embarrassing moments that high school me (I'm finishing undergrad now) would have probably cried over, but now I give myself a big mental hug, have a laugh-- there is always humor to be found--and then move on. The more I accept my rough edges, the easier it gets to move on to things that are more important than my lack of social graces. And I think this nonjudgmental attitude is actually making those painfully awkward moments much, much rarer.
I could try very hard to change my behavior and stop being awkward. Maybe I would never have an awkward moment again. But unless I relax the immature impulse to judge, I would always be haunted by memories of those past failures. Letting go of those harsh judgements lightened my load a whole lot more than any behavioral change regime ever could.
That said, all of my experiences with drivers have been positive so far. It helps that I always have an easily comprehendible problem to relate to the drivers; I don’t have to explain why I am thumbing for a ride beyond that.
The first time I dabbled was when my car broke down on a rural interstate highway around 2016. I was a newly-licensed driver, and at the time I didn’t have a cell phone. I thumbed for a short while on the shoulder, and a truck driver gave me a lift to the next town where I was able to sort things out.
I was highly conscious of the whole spectacle, and yeah, given the combo of single teenage white girl and car in disrepair it did not take long for someone to stop. I was really fearful of predators, but I couldn’t see any way of resolving that situation that didn’t involve getting into the car of a stranger.
I’ve since hitchhiked in other situations where I didn’t have car issues, but always out of necessity. I feel much safer when I’m not alone on the road, of course. I’d like to try hitchhiking for pleasure at some point, but it seems the US is just not the place to do that.