As I was wandering down Calle 50, a very busy street, and had narrowly avoided being run over by a large bus who saw no good reason to use his turn signal, I was thinking, "Why would anyone want to be a hitchhiker? Perhaps I'd better explain it." So, here goes a short essay.

First, modern life is boring, but hitchhiking is not. If you have any doubt that modern life is boring, simply turn on the TV set.



Sure, there are many attractive flavors of boredom-alleviation, and they are available at any time of the day or night. But the fact remains that the TV is the primary way people avoid dealing with the fact that they are bored. On the other hand, hitchhiking is disturbingly real and non-boring. At the end of your life, looking back, if you become a hitchhiker you will never say, "Gee, I wish I'd spent more time watching TV".

Second, hitchhiking is about freedom. There is no freedom in today's world, what freedom is like has been forgotten in every country. The best we can hope for is a TAZ, or Temporary Autonomous Zone. If you don't know what that is, go here, or you can also listen to these MP3's (one two three four) by Hakim Bey. Anyway, hitchhikers do experience notions of freedom. Whether they are real or just due to the fact that everyone around you is jabbering in a language that you don't understand all the nuances of may be debatable; but the feeling at least is real.

Another reason is because things are getting less-than-harmless on this planet. For example, for those in the US, plans are being mentioned about the next federal psychodrama. George Bush's recent comment - when asked by Bob Woodward "How is history likely to judge your Iraq war?" replied, "History, we don't know. We'll all be dead." (Woodward Shares War Secrets, CBS News, 60 Minutes, April 18, 2004) - doesn't exactly inspire cheeriness and hope...what did George mean by that comment, anyway? At any rate, it would be best to be on the way to Betelgeuse or some other interesting place while all this continues to go on.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a towel and head for someplace you've always been interested in going to. I guarantee that you will meet some interesting people, and will learn a lot more than you would watching the shopping channel.