Ridesharing is Caring

(photo from the creative commons)

Anonymity is one of the key tenets of craigslist. Normally, you don't get to see who's behind the "Reply to" address unless you ride with them, buy something from them, or meet them for a late-night "casual encounter."

But over the past few weeks, I've had the privilege of sitting down with a number of ridesharers under the immortal pretense of "journalism," putting a face and name to those dizzying-set-of-numbers@craigslist.org. Among them were:

• Padma, a 30-year-old electrical engineer from India.

• Katie, a 6-foot-plus ice hockey player and documentary film maker from Colorado

• Srin, a Newfoundland-born Pediatrics resident at Harvard

• Amber, a 22-year-old animal rights activist from Syracuse

• Bridget, a stand-up bass player (and stand-up gal) from Jersey
  

They all had different stories, backgrounds, destinations and rideshare expectations, but what they all seemed to have in common was a strong degree of trust. A trust in the basic good of (hu) man and a passion for connecting with people, transiently or not.

I like to think of this as the "backpacker mentality," although it is by no means the sole domain of the grungy traveler with a heap of canvas on her back.



For instance, last summer I joined an organization called Servas, a world-wide network of hosts who welcome travelers into their homes for a two-night cross-cultural exchange - for free. Most of my hosts were around my parents' age, and among them were doctors, teachers, engineers and psychologists.

Often they were people who had traveled when they were younger and were eager to expend some of the hospitality they'd received over the years.

They were people who hadn't lost the backpacker mentality- the spirit of trust and openness to whatever or whomever might come knocking.