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Originally Posted by Came2U
I don't know if anyone else has it, but my handle is Road Angel.
Of course there is a story that goes along with it...
I routinely stop and assist stranded motorist - those who really can't help themselves: Mothers with children, little ol' men and women... As long as there isn't a danger, I do what needs to be done to get them going again. Many stories... I had started to notice how everyone was referring to me as their "road angel", soooo... Now I'm known as Road Angel.
One of the things that I always told them when they offered to pay me for my help (never accepted, won't), was that instead of paying me, they could (those who were physically able to) help others, just like I helped them. I told them how to be careful and watch for warning signs of danger, taught them how to change their tires, batteries... anything that would help. So now there is a "Road Angel" club of sorts here in the Southwest.
I'm not with a carrier as of yet. I'm going into expedite trucking...I'm all ready except for finding my O/O who will hire me to run for him/her.
This is a fun thing. Now we will be able to know who's out and about!
See you all soon! :wink: Road Angel
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I am the Warlock...but I do not practise witchcraft....figure that one out!
But I did once have some practised on me....
I doubt you were the trucker who helped me Road Angel but let me tell you a story:
My father drove in the sixties when I was very young...he gave it up to spend time with me. In those days you would be gone MANY weeks and there were no cell phones and long distance was prohibitively expensive (especially from pay phones and truck stops)...so he rarely called. That's one of many reasons he gave it up. Anyway, he always told me about truckers being the Knights Of The Road and I never believed him. I knew he would always stop to help people but that's just the way he was.
When I went through my rebellious phase in the my early twenties...that was during the early eighties...(you know...when you think everything your parents ever said was 100% BS...as in bull sh*@#t), I once had a flat tire in my four wheeler on my way to Florida for a job...I had no cash and a flat spare. Needless to say I was SOL.
A kindly older trucker, I never got his name but he was an old school Knight OF The Road (KOTR) stopped to help me. I was neither old nor female, nor handicapped, just down on my luck. He gave me and my flat spare a ride to the next truck stop, offered to help pay to have my tire fixed (I politely declined...I had my pride and no dirty, hand labouring ignorant TRUCK DRIVER was going to pay my way!!!) so I used the last of my meager funds to pay myself. He then said to meet him in the restaurant for coffee when I got my tire back and he would give me a ride back to my car (good thing..it was better than ten miles away!!!). When I got to the restaurant he was having a meal. I only orederd coffee claiming I was not hungry(due to my aforementioned lack of funds, though I was hungry...but again...I was too good to accept help from anyone!!!) He insisted I eat saying "you gotta a long ride there boy and a tire to change as well...you need some fuel just like your car does!...besides, I like the company and I hate to eat alone." I ate with him needless to say. He gave me my ride back to my car and dropped me off...now realise he added over twenty miles plus an unscheduled stop to his trip...AND paid for my meal as well,only three or four dollars in those days but very kind indeed.
After he dropped me off I asked for his address so I could at least mail him his out of pocket money back and send him a thank you. He said, "if you think you owe me something boy and want to repay me, here's how you can do it. I stopped to help you, just because you looked like you needed it. I want nothing in return for myself but I will ask that you do this: Whenever you can and you see someone who looks like they need help, stop and offer and help if they accept. If you do this TEN TIMES, to anyone who needs it, you can consider your "debt" paid in full. And, oh yeah, don't take anything in return for helping, just tell them the same thing I told you" Fair enough..I thanked him again and we parted...never to meet again.
Still young, rebellious and more than a little stupid, I said sure. I might have been rebellious, but I was honest. That was an easy way to "pay him off". So I started helping others, and counting each time i did it. Being more than a little selfish, I could not wait until I hit number ten so I could stop being such an altruist and god damned "do-gooder". I think I was around number five or six when it occurred to me that this "helping others" thing had some merit (perhaps I matured or just got a better outlook on life)...either way, I soon thereafter realised that the number ten was meaningless...he meant to ALWAYS help someone in need (if you can of course) no matter how many you do it for and I have always done so since.
From helping an elderly couple change a tire, to a jump starting a minvan for a family with a dead battery, to anyone I can find. That was in my years before trucking finally became my profession and I joined the ranks of the dirty, hand labouring ignorant truck drivers only to realise they might be "dirty" at times from the hard work they do...and most are not "ignorant" at all (but perhaps slightly more so since I joined their ranks!)
So, to be a true KOTR just help people when you can...especially when they need it...and ask for nothing in return but that they help tem more and tell each of them to do the same. Imagine if you will how much better a place the world would be if we all did the same!
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