The Tide has Turned: Reflections on American Negativity
to Chicago, where he promoted his book at the American Booksellers Association national convention. Along the route, he encountered just two other hitchhikers. Besides the diminished number of fellow travelers, MacLaren also detected a change in attitude among those zipping past in their late-model autos. While he notes that there is some sort of fundamental constant at work between hitchhikers and the type of people who will offer rides--and it is probably that those who once hitchhiked now stop for those who continue to hitchhike--there has been a chill in the welcome.
This has another effect: The number of those willing to provide rides has dropped proportionally with those seeking rides. Still, MacLaren says, "Once you get them out of the Buick, people are nicer now than they used to be. Ironically, this may be a backlash to the fear-mongering climate we are in. You can meet neat people," MacLaren says. "The buttholes blow on by, and that leaves the characters, those with a bit of a slant on life, with wit. Those are the people I would prefer to ride with, anyway." An interesting and far more trustworthy perspective (in my view) than most I read or hear. MacLaren speaks with clear insight.
I reflect on my impending departure to the States with no shortage of professional stress alas, but an underlying enthusiasm for the opportunity to see however briefly some of the folk I cherish, and a land about which, in the end, I know so very little ... I'll hopefully report on a gathering of hitch-hikers in Seattle in early November, no matter how modest .... Keep posted.
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