10-4 Magazine November 2024

10-4 Magazine / November 2024 47 Two months ago I wrote an article called “I Think I Can,” and if I were to categorize my greatest achievement to date, it would be the power of positive energy. It’s been a long road from 6502 Mitchell Road to where I am today. Yes, that is a real place, and the address of my childhood. It’s true, I live only a short bicycle ride from there today, but it’s the distance in between that tells my story. But it’s a story anyone can achieve. I set about my life in short, high energy spurts, broken into manageable segments of time, when I’m most alive. Sure, I sleep when I can, work when I should, and smile often at the folks who don’t understand my motives. So many of the younger folks see me as elderly, past my prime, and post-retirement, but the truth is, I see myself as an advanced teenager with many years ahead of me. You are only as old as you feel. So, what makes that difference? Could it be your perspective or just senility? I don’t care what someone else thinks, I’m living my best life, and if that means taking risks and doing dangerous stuff, so be it. They will never tell a story about people who didn’t do dumb stuff and only thought about it. I have found the people who I looked up to were risk takers, problem solvers, and go getters. Not all of them became successful, and some failed spectacularly. But that did not stop them or define them, it only made them more resilient and more determined to fight on. It’s that spirit I would like to address today. Set goals and plan for your future – become an active participant in your own life, and don’t just wait for things to happen. When I was serving in the Marines, we had a commonly used phrase, “Bad men make bad things happen... weak men have bad things happen to them.” That’s not a direct quote, but for a family friendly publication, I have revised it to reflect the only two types of people we saw. It was also often said, “It’s that you should not die for your country, but for the enemy to die for his... at the end of your sword.” Truer words were never spoken. The will to live and the power to succeed are one in the same only realized at different times. I’m a person that will re-purpose discarded items, found or purchased, to give them new identity. I’m reminded of this when I think of the prisoner who, while serving time as a POW, learned origami, the art of paper folding, from an Asian prisoner of war. He practiced different forms and styles and became well known for his works of art. When the guards became suspicious of his motives, they withheld paper from him as a form of punishment. He, however, had a bible they allowed him to keep and read. He folded and fashioned the pages from his personal book of scripture to encourage other inmates to fight on and to not give up. The guards only saw his artwork and never realized that he was sending messages to other inmates, boosting their moral, by reading the words on those pages. Not all success will be measured in dollars or cents, some are held in the folds of our heart. I have written many things about how to excel in the trucking world – from maintenance to trip planning. We spend so much of our time either driving or working on those cotton picking trucks that we don’t have the time to work on ourselves. The body and soul are critical aspects in our physical being. No, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one in this magazine, but I do practice medicine for myself in my daily routine. For those of you who may be new to this article I am a cancer survivor. Three years ago I was diagnosed, and then I underwent a treatment that left me physically and emotionally devastated. As an OTR driver, I lost the ability to do my job, thus stealing my purpose and drive in life. I still miss the long drives and the open road headed for the coast. Someday I may again be able to get back to it because, fortunately, I own the truck and was able to park it for a period of time. I received the best of medical care, but very little emotional support from the cancer program. There are certain responsibilities a person must seek out and tender for themselves. It wasn’t until that time I realized how many of my friends have been down that same road. How each one handled the outcome determined their life expectancy. Many hear the “C” word and panic, frozen by fear, scared of the unknown. Fear doesn’t need to be a