Diary of a Truck Driver

Many drivers will recall the ‘good old days’ when drivers helped each other or as a minimum hailed a stranded driver on the two-way to ensure all was in hand. It isn’t such a relic of days gone by though and many drivers still subscribe to this practice, especially as you move further from the coast. But I guess that’s just ‘country’.

I put my heart on my sleeve, as it were, in my last post and the supportive and encouraging comments and personal emails I received were a wonderful beacon amongst the shadows. These are people I barely know, if at all; our only common point of reference is our passion for trucking and a shared interest in my ramblings. If I past you on the road you would no sooner recognise me than I you and yet the hand of friendship has been extended across the fog line of the information super-highway just as it would across the black top.

It’s encouraging to know that there are still those that care for a fellow human being, no matter his or her plight and now matter the tenuous threads that secure the friendship. these are truly good people.

It’s also worth noting that most if not all of us have at some time suffered bereavement, marital breakdown or other trauma that can be life changing at the time but leaves us as survivors at the end of the day. Sure, I’ve had my share too but you never have to look far to find someone who is in much more need of help than yourself and it usually puts your plight into perspective.

At Christmas, while I wallowed in my own misery I heard on the news of the father and well known Chef, Matt Golinksi, who lost his wife and children in a house fire and was fighting for his own survival as a result of his attempts to rescue his loved ones. Nothing can bring them back to him and I thought at the time that he would probably wish himself dead if not for his comatose state. I also read the out pouring of an Army acquaintance as he distilled the tragedies of his life to paper… The horror of dragging his wife’s lifeless body, her neck broken, from a car wreck that happened as she followed his truck and the subsequent loss of his parents one after the other and a myriad of other disasters that befell his path, yet he is now a champion of helping others as they struggle. I’m not too proud to admit that I wept for both these men, possibly in part due to my own stress but more in solemn recognition of the strength of character these individuals posses to endure such heartache and continue on.

It’s not without our own personal pains that we live, they are partly responsible for the joy felt when it things go the right way, but it’s important to remember that we are never the only ones suffering and often we are the least affected but you don’t know until you open your eyes and look around, stretch out your hand to a neighbour and care.

That’s the lore of the road.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Truck driving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.