It's almost amusing that you obviously don't know the difference between a "holier than thou" attitude and a "superiority" complex..... considering that you have BOTH.

Take a look at your sig line, and you'll see both represented there. However, I somehow doubt that you have the skills to recognize it.

I know the difference, and know that I have both. Your point?


As usual, you'd be wrong.

Hey joe I just quit werner do you have any advice on general tractor maintenece I should have done b4 I turned the truck in :idea: :wink:

back in the '70's i hitched a lot, got a lot of rides from truckers. i also lived on the skids for more years than i a want to remember. i also raised a family when i was on the streets. i was a panhandler, lumper, day laborer. i raised 2 kids. 1 is a pro wrestler, the other is a clothing buyer for a major retailer. yeah we ran out of cash at reas areas or truck stops and asked truck drivers for help. we took a lot of abuse from some of you. but there were some real folks out there who helped. what stuck with me the most was when they told me was, when i can pass it on and help someone else. i have given showers, bought meals, given canned food and smokes to folks just like me since then. last xmas i was out here. i gave a few showers away. i also had xmas dinner with a BUM. he used to be a high school shop teacher until he lost his wife and son in an accident to a tired truck driver. he got and stayed drunk. we had xmas dinner. so how about seeing if 2 truckers will fight over the last fattest lot lizard?

ChopperBob: Your story touches me. Really! It's a shame that times have changed and you can't even trust a "bum" these days to REALLY be someone who is down on his luck! Many are PROFESSIONAL panhandlers!

I could NEVER have done what YOU did! I mean raising kids under such pressure! I'm just not that STRONG! Yeah.... I admit it! But, the strongest memory of my chldhood was when my father, a minister, took me with him down to Skid Row in Seattle. We handed out religious tracts, and a few bucks, and I will NEVER forget the experience.

A seven year old kid is not supposed to be faced with such realities! It changed my life (or screwed it up) forever! I dare say it had alot to do with my CHOICE to be a registered Democrat.

As a trucker, today, I see these people in the truckstops all the time. I can't help but wonder, when we are so close to a Casino, if their problems aren't self-imposed. Yet, my heart is torn.

Jesus forgave the prostitute, and gave "alms" to the beggars. And he warned us that he might come to our door disguised as one in need! When I said I was LUCKY to have a CDL, and live just one step above the poverty that pervades our nation, I meant it. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Have I been "suckered" by an artist at times? Probably. But, the fact that I have let this close my heart to those truly in need, and have refused them my pittance of help, troubles me MORE!

I applaud your honesty, and I thank you for reminding me of my responsibilities as a Christian.

Im enjoying the reading here. A joking thread has turned into something deeper.

As for people down and out. Ill share this personal story.

Paul was my insurance agent. Great guy about 35, nice wife and three young girls. Great people. Then he gradually began missing more days at work. I didnt know this till his wife asked me if I knew what was going on. I did not.

After a few months, it got worse. Paul quit showing up most the time, and I was shocked when I called to change my policy and referred to a district manager, who said Pauls accounts were now in trust to the company. I immediately stopped working and drove over there to see him. Not there. So I went to his house, his wife was depressed, and the look on her face is not one Ill ever forget. Real pain. Said she had to get a restraining order against him, and that he was on drugs. Heroin.

I looked all over town, asked other friends, and not one had seen him. I gave up after a few weeks, but every so often Id drive into the bad parts of Fresno to deliver cars, and one day, on a narrow side street, a guy walking with a cane was in the street. I waited, but this guy wouldnt move, so I crept up, and rolled my window down to tell him to move. It was Paul. I was shocked. It just couldnt be him. He looked 60 . The look in his eyes was glazed over. I stared, because some part of me wanted to believe it wasnt him. But it sure was. And he recognized me. When I said "hey Paul, are you ok? do you need a ride?" He got closer to my face, and then spit on me. I didnt react, but inside, I was so sorry for him it must have showed. He said F-U, and who do you think you are......as if I had somehow looked down on him, when I honestly wanted to get him help. He hit my cab with the stick, or cane, and walked off. I sat there idling in shock. How could this be happening?

That encounter really stung, and from that day, I vowed to never turn my back on anyone. He fit right in with all the bums on that street, but I knew him from before, as a family man with a nice home, a wife who was a registered nurse, and three lovely daughters. Everyone else downtown had no clue of this mans potential.

There is a happy ending however to this story. 4 years later, an old girlfriend called me and said she talked to Paul when he showed up at the Armenian church she attends. She got his phone number, and I called him. He is ok now, sober and back on with his life. He did lose his marriage, and kids and is back in the insurance business, on a probationary license for 3 years. The drugs have shaved years off his life, but we talk regularly now, like the old friends we are.

My advice would be, no matter how bad someone looks or acts, we dont know where they came from, or where they are going. Some people are only temporary bums, or prostitutes, and we should forgive them their trespasses and faults.

thanks for listening

I really found this tread to be cruel from the beginning but in the process it has really me understand the plight of some people down on their luck!

It reminds me of about 20 years ago I met this young lady on crack cocaine and I almost hit the pipe and she said " I care to much for you to let you do that to your life" and I often wonders what my life would have been like if I had made that stupid mistake.

Just the thought bring tears to my eyes!

Seems to me that your sig says it all, doesn't it Pigrider?????????

[quote="Rev.Vassago"]I know the difference, and know that I have both. Your point?

The point is you can be a real assh*le most of the time. Your posts used to be funny and sometimes informational. Now you are just a jerk.