A Look In The Mirror

If each truck driver would be a true professional...dress well, work with pride, talk kindly...the American public would respect us once again. We deserve a tremendous amount of respect after all. We are as strong, hard working, and dedicated as anyone. Our job is dangerous, and requires great sacrifice. Our society would crumble without us.

And yet we're viewed by many with distaste, and by some with utter contempt. We're misunderstood and underappreciated. The government has classified truck drivers as unskilled labor, and yet we know it takes masterful skills to navigate eighty thousand pounds of rolling steel safely from city to city, coast to coast. If a guidance counselor were to suggest a student become a truck driver their job would be terminated immediately, and yet we know this is a one of a kind career filled with blessings, rewards, and challenges.

For years I've watched children drive past in cars, begging to hear that air horn. And I couldn't help but smile at their wide eyes and wild cheers when they'd get their wish. Even as kids we knew there was nothing as cool as a big ole American big rig rolling down the highway, and most of us dreamed of the day we could sit behind that wheel, even just one time.

I think of those kids and how they look up to us, and I think how in days past we were known as "Knights Of The Road". But that was so long ago that few remember.

It's sad that we don't expect more of ourselves as professionals. It's even more sad our society no longer expects it of us. The time has come for a new generation of drivers to step up to the plate and restore the integrity of the American Trucker. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard, each of us individually, acting as one. We must expect it of ourselves, and of each other. We must make up for dark days.

It bears repeating that if each truck driver would be a true professional...dress well, work with pride, talk kindly...the American public would respect us once again.

There's no reason to wait until tomorrow. We've waited too long already. Start today.

Stand proud.

Change.

Related Articles: