Nearly seven years ago, I hitchhiked（搭顺风车）across Canada. It was a curious experience, but probably not what people imagine. Frankly, it was rather boring. But it gave me some understanding of the complexities of humans.

The contrast between boredom and excitement on the road is quite striking. For hours on end, you may be standing at the side of a highway, watching faces go by. You get all sorts of looks when you're hitchhiking. People ignore you, smile at you, wave or use their hands to gesture that they're unable to pick you up. Often, truckers pick you up.

Once, I was dropped off in front of an elderly woman. She said her car had broken down and that her husband was on his way with a tow truck（拖车）. Later, she and her husband offered to bring me back to their place for lunch. I happily agreed. The woman sat in the middle seat of the tow truck and I sat in the passenger seat. Our communication became a funny event of translations. I could not figure out what her husband was saying. He spoke English, but his dialect made it almost impossible for me to understand. Every time he spoke to me, I'd have to say, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Then his wife would step in to translate.

When I explained I was hitchhiking coast-to-coast for fun, they were both amazed and impressed. Then, a look of understanding appeared on the woman's face. “Oh!" she said. “You remind me of that guy, what's his name…" She thought hard for a couple of minutes, then: “Terry Fox!”

The flow of randomness（随机）and the constant impermanence（无常）was what I enjoyed about hitchhiking. We have non-stop social interactions that are deeply authentic but so finite only in a short time. A person becomes an important part of our life for an hour or two and then he or she disappears. The beauty of strangers being so open about their lives never gets old and they paint a picture of harmony in this country.

O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank. When some money went missing from the bank, O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the readers’ surprise.