Yesterday I saw a man packing up his campsite under the watchful eye of a pair of deputies who proceeded to frisk him and then drive off with the man in the back of their squad car.

I believe I witnessed a hobo getting rousted.

His tent had been next to a machine shed at the edge of the property.  It was, unless I miss my guess, the home of a farmer who was standing in his lawn drinking his morning coffee as the trespasser was removed from his property.

Suffice to say that this whole scene annoyed me.

Yes, the man could have been a bad guy.  He may very well have harmed the family.  The fact that the entire scene was very quiet makes me think that this individual who may find himself behind bars for trespassing and vagrancy was not causing any trouble.  It looked to me like he had merely been taking a rest.

I would like to believe that, if I found somebody camping at the furthest edge of my property and out of sight of the house, I would not call the police.  Moreover, if I caught the police removing such an individual from my property, I would banish them for trespassing.

My great-grandfather was a hobo in his younger years.  It is a lifestyle I have often envied but have never been brave enough to attempt.  Now that I am older and have a family to support, I am not likely to make such a radical move at this point in my life.  Also, I don't feel like finding myself on the wrong side of a cage.

Why is hitchhiking illegal?

Why is choosing a nomadic existence a criminal offense?

I am sure that, to some extent, there is a viewpoint that says people with no permanent residence or personal transportation are probably up to no good.  Charity cases at best, right?  I am not so sure.  I am suddenly thinking that the real crime here is the rebellion.

The total rejection of society, of all the trappings and customs and puffery and traditions, that is where the lawlessness really lays.  To have no home, no job, no roots; and to enjoy the freedom of going wherever one pleases, whenever he chooses...  There are those that must really hate the idea and it is they I simply cannot comprehend.  I do not see the crime in offering to paint a fence in exchange for a hot meal.  I fail to comprehend the evil in walking from place to place or catching a ride whzen one is made available.  What is so wrong with that?

Independence is not a given, even (or especially) in a "free country" like the United States of America.

A people that has never known otherwise has no words for "freedom" or "liberty".  They are concepts only definable by contrast.  We the People, on the other hand, have a helluvalotta (it's a technical term) words for "freedom".  We are surrounded by imagery, bombarded by soundbites, preached to by pundits every day and from all directions.  Telling us, repeating it like a mantra, just how free we are.  Usually following that up with just what freedom costs.

Because, after all, why should freedom be free?