In 2005, the Pew Internet and American Life Project asked 2,000 people if they thought that "most people could be trusted" or if "you can't be too careful". 60 percent answered "you can't be too careful".
This makes the recent behavior of a number of households in the state a little unusual because they took in a perfect stranger. New Hampshire Public Radio's Jon Greenberg reports that sometimes, it helps to show a little trust.
Ali Baba fans, Doris Bussiere and Joe Wright. (Jon Greenberg, NHPR)
The beach in Hampton gets more than its share of backpackers.
CUT: They do it all the time.
Doris Bussiere, a 66-year-old warehouse manager, lives in a modest bungalow neighborhood about a half mile from the beach.
CUT: They walk all the way up route 1A. It's an everyday occurrence.
Normally, a backpacker excites little curiosity. But over the weekend, Doris and her 80-year-old neighbor, Joe Wright played host to a young hiker who has chosen as a travelling companion a creature that is positively magnetic. A goat.
CUT: I hardly ever seen a goat.
Joe met the goat before he met its owner. On a Friday afternoon, he had stopped in for a quick prayer at St. Patrick's Church.
CUT: I was kneeling down. Saying some prayers there and all's and I turn around and the goat's talking to me.
The old story of a manger in Bethlehem did not prepare Joe for this literal encounter with livestock. It might have even led him slightly astray.
CUT: I thought it was a donkey to be honest with you. Because he was Bah -- Bah. I didn't know if it was a donkey or a goat.
Despite the novelty of the moment, Joe quickly rose to the occasion. He blessed the goat with holy water. He then turned and met the owner, a 26-year-old college drop out who likes to be known by just his first name, Joseph. The two needed a place to stay and Joe offered .. a room in his house for Joseph and his backyard for the goat, who goes by the name Ali Baba. The travelers were an instant hit on Joe and Doris's street.
CUT: This is a whole new experience here. I mean, he's been the talk of the neighborhood since he's been here and people just love to come up and talk to him.
Ali Baba is certainly the attraction, but he isn't the reason that Doris and her friends are so intrigued with Joseph.
CUT: Once you start talking to Joe, you forget about the goat and it's all about Joe. and you want to find out about what's he’s done and where's he's been and you know. He's on a mission.
Joseph and Ali Baba hit the trail. (Jon Greenberg, NHPR)
What Joseph has done since March is hike a chunk of the Appalachian Trail. He outfitted Ali Baba with saddlebags to share the load on the trail. Where they've been is from Tennessee to Vermont. He left the trail to see a friend and cut over to the Atlantic Ocean before heading back to Tennessee. And the mission? To get by with almost no money. It's been five months since Joseph left Tennessee with just a hundred dollars.
CUT: Everybody thought I'd get as far as southerrn Virginia and it would all be over. And now I'm in Hampton Beach and it's still going on and I've still got a return trip.
Sitting on Joe's screen porch, Joseph has 3 dollars in his pocket. In every state along the way, in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York or any other, when he runs low on food, he gets off the trail. In each place, just as in Hampton Beach, he attracts a crowd and someone will offer to give him some food to help him on his way. I had spoken to Joseph one evening when he passed through Concord a couple of days before getting to Hampton. He described his standard response.
CUT: I'll gently decline and say I'll take you up on another offer. If you have yard work, or light construction, I'm ready to help.
Joseph insists on working and will accept payment only in food -- packable food. To those who want to pay in cash, Joseph explains that he can't eat money on the trail. That's the kind of attitude that Doris loves.
CUT: You open your cabinet and say take some Spaghetti-o's, take some crackers. take this, I filled a bag for him last night. He won't take money.
// Its' a big deal?/
A very big deal. if he took money, it would be like panhandling. And he wouldn't do that.
Joseph looks nothing like a panhandler. Even after months on the trail, he's clean cut. When he talks, no one questions that he's serious about learning something on this trip. About a year ago, he was a senior at the University of Tennessee, a member of a fraternity where, to hear him tell it, the brothers majored in Jack Daniels. Joseph is in search of simplicity, to face, as Thoreau put it, the essential facts of life. For Joseph, one of those facts is that, more often than not, people can trust each other.
CUT: There tends to be this belief. there's a predator on every corner. scary things. the reality is, all of us as Americans. we're good people and we're out to help each other. It's what it's about. / And Doris, would you say that's the message of your encounter with Joseph?// Absolutely. The true meaning of this trip is to find the good in people.
Joseph and Ali Baba. (Jon Greenberg, NHPR)
To travel with that goal in mind involves a certain risk. Doris describes Joseph's trek with one word -- gumption. We tend to like someone who is open to the unpredictable and if you decide to travel with a goat, you are practically demanding it. Joseph, as it turns out, had no inkling that Ali Baba would turn out to be his bridge to the people he would meet along the way. The sense that something good would emerge from those encounters has worked well for him, as it might for any of us who are willing to talk to strangers.
For NHPR News, I'm Jon Greenberg
And with due respect, we give Ali Baba the last word. He doesn't say much, but what he says seems to make an impression.
CUT: Baa, baa
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It doesn't surprise me that my Uncle Joe would help somebody who needed help, he has been doing so for all of his 80 years. The reporter should return to Joe Wright's cottage and find out that maybe the most interesting and authentically genuine person that Joseph of Tennessee and his Catholic goat will meet on the trail is this octogenarian who was motherless at 4 days, a high school dropout who became an executive at Harvard, a boxing commissioner and trainer whose contributions to the lives of many people, both "important" and "unimportant" were changed by Joe Wright, for the good. Ironically, Joe's great,great uncle was a friend and benefactor of Thoreau, the young man's inspiration. Perhaps, as Thoreau's fellow Transcendentalists thought, "what goes around comes around".
I could not agree more with the previous comment. Mr. Wright is a wonderful man with a compassionate heart. As I have said to many people, I don't think I'm that cool, I just took a walk in the woods with a goat. However, what Mr. Wright has done in his lifetime is truly a NHPR story.
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Yusuf and Ali Baba today in Mechanicsburg, PA. I was regretfully getting ready to do my laundry, loading up my car when up walks this intriguing person with a goat following behind. They stopped and talked for a few minutes. The happening made my day. Who knew I would come across a thru-hiker with a goat as a companion today. I wish them both well along with some good experiences on the way.
This is absolutely silly. The goat should have been kicked off the Trail. This whole thing is silly; shame on NPR for even running this story.
I have hiked 180 miles of the Appalachian trail and I can't figure out why a goat should have been kicked off. Dogs are allowed on almost all miles except for 3 parks along the 2,000 plus miles. Goats are the size of a big dog and don't bark. Having a goat isn't silly, it is a way to have a companion. I say thanks to NHPR for running a story about the Appalachian Trail, goats, and searching out simplicity. Hiking 10-20 miles a day, meeting new people, and caring for an animal makes for a very focused life. I am just a bit jealous.