I Have My Dream
We just recognized the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech. I am an admirer of Dr. King and his message. His friends describe Dr. King as a “minority dreamer and a majority realist”. He saw things as they could be. He recognized things as they were. He envisioned a path to get to how things could be from where they were. It must have been frustrating for him when the right path was not followed. I believe that Dr. King would still be working on that path if he were alive today.
That makes me wonder. How would Dr. King address a gathering of present day truckers? Dr. King was not shy about sharing his beliefs. He would admonish anyone, including his audience. Perhaps, he would begin with his vision. He would share his view from the mountaintop. He could see a place where truckers would never be denied use of a bathroom just because they drove a truck. He could see truckers getting paid for all of the work that we do. We would be fairly compensated for all of our time at work. He might even see every mile driven as being the same as every mile paid. That would be the dream.
Then he might go on and speak to us about ourselves. He could admonish us for some of our own behavior. How can we expect people to let us use their parking lots when we leave urine bottles behind? Why would people respect us when we wear pajamas to work, or dress like slobs? Why would we expect people to respect us when we fail to show respect ourselves? He would tell us to respect others. Clean up after ourselves. Take it a step further and clean up after other truckers. Show respect, act respectfully and respect should follow. If after you demonstrate respect and don’t receive it, it is not on you.
Then he would turn to the outside world’s treatment of drivers. He might say that it is wrong not to pay drivers fairly for all of their time. The old post office to post office measuring of a mile is antiquated. He would say that we hang on to the old system to cheat the working man. This must change. He could say that being punished for being accused, but not convicted of a traffic offense is wrong. Within our generation we could see these changes.
In my speech I would explain the path to these changes. If we don’t stay on that path the changes won’t happen. To stay on the path we must act responsibly. We must drive safely and respectfully. We can’t dress like slobs and expect to be compensated like professionals. We must leave every place at least as clean as we found it. We must earn respect. We must be professional at all times. We must be politically active. We must vote. We must follow the right path.