Good Judgment

My mother loved Will Rogers. She loved his humor. She loved reading books about him and some of the hilarious sayings he came out with. I remember her laughing while reading them. It makes me sad to think that many people alive today have never heard of him. His life was like a history book and a great adventure all rolled into one very wise and beloved character. He should be remembered.

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One of Will Roger's quotes, the one highlighted...I can definitely attest to. And this is where my story begins. It is set in the 70s when everything was Groovy and Far Out and Psychedelic. And this is when my boyfriend and I (both teenagers) thought it would be fun to try hitchhiking. Everybody was doing it, so it had to be a good idea, right?

"Between the Great Depression and the mid-1970s, hitchhikers were a common sight for motorists, as American service members, students, and adventurers sought out the romance of the road in droves. Beats, hippies, feminists, and civil rights and antiwar activists saw “thumb tripping” as a vehicle for liberation, living out the counterculture’s rejection of traditional values." Jack Reid, author of Roadside Americans: The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation.

So, with thumbs out at night, we started on our journey with no planned destination. I don't remember every ride we got, heading east out of Shreveport, Louisiana, but we went a little over a hundred miles in a packed car on a drizzly night on an interstate highway. What could possibly go wrong??

The driver lost control of the wheel somehow and we circled around about three times before she gained control again, thankfully missing concrete underpasses and other vehicles.

At that point, my boyfriend and I decided it was time to go back home and we headed west to catch another ride. A big rig truckdriver stopped to let us in. I had two uncles who had been truckdrivers, so I felt safe enough. My boyfriend sat in the passenger seat and I took the overhead compartment where the "bed" was. What could possibly go wrong??

About thirty miles down the road, I feel a hand on my leg. Looking down at it, I recognized that it wasn't my boyfriend's hand. Being both shy and timid, and totally unprepared for that experience, I said nothing, but kept pushing him away. Either my boyfriend was unaware of what was happening in the dark cab, or he felt underpowered to stop it. Thankfully, the driver had to stop for fuel. And you guessed it, I got out and stayed out.

My boyfriend was upset with me because I didn't want to continue our ride with him at this point. I told him about "the hand" and he didn't believe me, so I used the phone in the truck stop to call my mother to come and get me. (This was pre-cell phone era.) Although she was frustrated with me for hitchhiking, she didn't hesitate to come after me.

So, I learned what this quote from Will Rogers meant. I had obtained experience from my own bad judgment and then made the decision (out of the good judgment) I had attained to NEVER hitchhike again.

And what happened to the boyfriend? My mother picked him up too. And I married him later. I was still a teenager gaining life's experiences, right? Good judgment in that department has still eluded me throughout the years. But I never, ever hitchhiked again!

Videos of American icon and hero below:

Who was Will Rogers? (1879-1935)

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