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When I discussed this summer's journey of backpacking the PCT and hitchhiking home, most (if not all) people felt either I was crazy or the people who gave me rides were crazy, or both. I can't speak for others, but I might be insane. I was very surprised my parents didn't hand me a lecture. My dad was a very deep person, so he probably understood me well even though few words were exchanged. I suppose arriving home healthy meant I made some right (if not bad) decisions.

I've felt many of the people I knew, and most people in general, were naive about the world. They lived their sheltered lives not contemplating much about the world which revolved outside as though they've been living in a barn somewhere in the bounties. Yes, the world can be a bad place, and it was sometimes. Maybe it's a survival instinct we all have to dwell on bad news, which easily eclipsed good news, so we can avoid those bad things. Now I realized they weren't naive, some of them were very naive, and I...well, maybe I was naive somewhat.

I can't expect anyone, especially women, to stop and offer a stranger a ride, but it bothered me to hear people accusing me or the people offering a helping hand as stupid. "Crazy" was tolerable and had some humorous conotations, but "stupid" was undignified and inappropriate. Each of us, at different stages in our lives, will have to navigate the dark tunnels of life. Or we might be caught in the rain without an umbrella and must weather the storm. Would it not be nice to be offered sincere assistance when we have nothing or when we least expected it?

(Women should not offer rides unless they are positively sure they weren't in danger. Even men have to show some common sense.)

I had no idea what questions needed answers in my life when I started the Pacific Crest Trail. In fact, I didn't look into the journey too deeply- I just needed to be free. What I unexpectedly discovered was the hope and goodness in the human spirit. It didn't appear to exist in too many people, but the few people I found it in amazed me, although I wasn't a very impressionable person.