Well here I sit, just a-wonderin’ what I’m gonna scribble about this week. Have done all the squawkin’ about the weather one can do, and it’s snowin’ now as I write this! Have done some serious belly-achin’ about the state of the roads in our state, and politics, well, let’s just say I wished it was a joke, but I’m afraid that the way things seem to be going it might be closer to a nightmare instead!
Not sure how many read Mr. Nemitz in last Sunday’s Maine Sunday Telegram, but it was a dead-on article about our leaders tellin’ the truth, as in Mr. Trump and Mr. LePage! And I got to thinkin’, what must our young people be thinking of this kind of leadership? Is this the way to handle adversaries, by name-calling? Or by labeling stories or articles you don’t agree with as “fake news?” And as Mr. Nemitz so profoundly pointed out, “no matter what I said or did, it never happened.”
Really? Is this what we have come to? A nation that has always been a leader, be it in war or peace, now has come to a place in time where we are not going to be held accountable for our actions? Is this the best we have to offer for leadership? What does this say to the next generation coming along? May God help us!
I had a reader ask me just recently to write something about truckin’. How does truckin’ fit into the economic equation? The simple answer is “if you have it, a truck brought it,” as just about everything has some kind of transportation tag attached to it.
How about an example? How about a toothpick? Simple, one would think, a piece of wood. Well, first of all, it was a tree that was cut, by probably a mechanical harvester that came from a factory, by truck, and then was hauled to the woodlot, by truck! Then the trees were hauled to a mill, by truck, and in this mill were all sorts of machines, that came by truck, that took a big log and turned it into thousands of small toothpicks.
OK, so now we have toothpicks, but wait, we don’t go to the mill to get our toothpicks, so they need to be shipped to a warehouse, by truck! And then Mr. Hannaford store calls, and wants some toothpicks, so he buys some, a truckload, that comes by truck, and he has them delivered to his distribution center, where he can send just a few cases to each one of his stores, by truck.
And the maze of truckin’ can go on and on. How do the trucks get fuel and repair parts? By truck of course. And what about all the material it took to build the stores. All came by truck! So you see, next time you’re behind that slow-movin’ truck that’s throwing dirty water all over your windshield, think about that little somethin’ that’s been stuck in your back tooth from last night’s dinner, and say to yourself, “I know where toothpicks come from” and I could sure use one right now!
Spring is comin’ folks, I’m sure it is. Fact, I’m gettin’ my new GPS out to see if I can find it somewhere. Till next time, keep your shine on!
Larry Sidelinger
Yankee Pride Transport
Damariscotta
