world improver

I traveled through wild New Zealand for ten wonderful days. By bus and especially hitchhiking. And there was another priceless experience. The two of us tried to hitchhike a 2.5 hour journey together. It was already late afternoon and it gets dark around half past 6. So we stood on the road with our painted sign, after about 15 minutes the first car stops, takes us to the next town, about 20 km away. The next car again after about 15 minutes, it's getting dark, Linda, an older New Zealander, can take us for about 1 hour at least. When we arrive it's pitch black, there's still a good hour to go. It's time to worry, what if we don't actually make it? Who would pick up two strangers, fully loaded, in the dark? But panic and bad mood won't get you any further, so stay calm and stick out your thumb. One minute later, Linda comes back, tells me, "the camper over there is going to Nelson, the lady said she might be able to take you, she just wants to ask her husband, who's just gone to the toilet. If they can't take you and you can't find any accommodation here, just give me a call, I live 20 minutes from here, I'll pick you up and make you a bed at my house." ... My jaw drops. Of course we were taken with us by the other couple, and as we sit in the camper, we look at each other like two little children and can't believe how wonderful the world can be. That woman would have simply taken us in. Out of love for others, just like that. It was one of those magical moments where a generous, selfless gesture made two people deeply happy and taught them a lesson. Because that's how the world should be. We constantly think, meep, after all I don't get anything for free, and I'm not appreciated anyway, so why should I do anyone a favor. Yeah, why? Because it makes the world a little bit better. Linda showed us how much gratitude a selfless gesture can evoke, and we thought, fuck, that's how it should be. That's how we want to be, and that's how everyone should be.

What's the worst that can happen if we give generously without expecting anything in return? Maybe we'll be taken advantage of and experience ingratitude. But much more often it's the case that we make the world a little bit better and give others a great experience. Instead of constantly keeping track of how much we give and what we get in return, maybe we should just give for the sake of giving. Simply because it's the right thing to do.

I hitchhiked a lot in New Zealand and more than just a ride came out of it. Once I went out to dinner with the couple who took me in their camper while I was lying in bed, once someone changed their plans and drove further than planned and we met the next day for a hike, sometimes three of us try to hitchhike to a hiking trail, no one takes us, until a girl stops who has completely different plans and we just join her and spend the whole day together, once I changed my plan and instead of making a stop at the lake, I hitchhiked 400 km to Christchurch. Having constant plans and expectations in mind about how something should go or be is somehow our everyday life. But when you travel like this and see that there is always a solution, that the best things happen when you're flexible and don't worry too much about what the end result looks like, then you feel the fear of the unknown fading away. And this feeling of freedom becomes addictive.

You also realize how little you need to be happy. In the end, it's the simplest moments when I was the happiest. You don't need a luxury dinner, a fancy hotel room, an expensive action boat tour. But a beer by the lake at sunset, even though it's too cold, being silly and laughing nonstop about nothing and everything with a wonderful friend on a 6-hour hike, looking at the infinite starry sky and seeing the Milky Way, the moment when you have climbed damn 1300 meters in altitude and look at a breathtaking landscape and then have a snack on the summit and fall asleep in the sun for a moment, hustling the guys at the hostel in table tennis, scraping together some leftover food and cooking something, just being there and looking at the scenery and feeling how small you actually are in this universe, that's wooow. And that's what I will miss so much when everyday life returns soon: the wonder of nature and simplicity, realizing that you don't need all the consumer crap, overcoming your limits and fears, jumping into cold water and listening to your heart.

I'm not a world improver, I don't eat vegan, I hardly care about politics, I don't demonstrate for justice in the world and I don't get involved in any aid projects. So what can I do? And I thought, if everyone could be a little more like Linda. Making people happy and grateful with small things, how much better would the world be.