Two Finger Country
If you’ve spent enough time not just on the road, but on the right kind of roads, then you know about Two Finger Country. The backcountry roads of America, the slick and dusty alike, bring with them a kind of simplistic camaraderie that the rest of the world could learn from. Out there, amongst the potholes and washboards, more often than not, a passerby will raise two fingers off the wheel of their vehicle, a simple gesture of seeing and being seen.
Mark my words, if you find yourself on a rough country road unknown to you and your gestures of acknowledgment go unreciprocated -- find yourself equally alert and wary of strangers, for you are in Fingerless Country, a place where you are undoubtedly akin to nothing and no one.
When I was younger and would wander around the streets of New York, I grew accustomed to the lack of smiling on the street. In New York, everyone is in a hurry and, when they’re not, they’ve grown accustomed to keeping their eyes down to make space for those that are.
When I moved to Oregon, after internalizing decades of sidewalk side-eyeing and silence, it took a bit of time for me to grow accustomed to all the kindness that strangers and I shared on the street. It’s just another human lesson in the life of a recovering east coaster.
That being said, trust me when I say that I’d rather be in a place where people wave from their cars than one where they smile on the street. In two-finger country, it doesn’t matter if you’re best friends or mortal enemies, folks help one another in times of need.
Should you go missing one day it will be the denizens of Two Finger Country that will remember passing me by in the dust on a rough country road, the same kind of folks that will stop to make sure you don’t need help when they find you pulled over. Never take for granted the importance of being seen by those that populate the landscape. Far too many of us spend our days with our eyes to the ground, simply moving out of each other’s way.
As you find yourself rolling through the void, kicking up dust on a rough country road, don’t forget to acknowledge the folks headed the other way, don’t forget to see them as they see you.