Psychos And Monks

In the 1988 movie “Colors” Robert Duvall plays a veteran cop training his new hotheaded rookie partner (Sean Penn). In a relatively minor scene Robert Duvall tells a story about two bulls.

“Did you hear the one about the two bulls?”

“Not yet.”

“Not yet? Huh. Well, these two bulls are standing on a grassy knoll overlooking a herd of guernseys. The young bull says to the papa bull, ‘Let’s run down there and screw one of those cows.’ The papa bull says ‘No, son let’s walk down there and screw them all.’”

The scene highlights the common theme of the calm, experienced veteran vs. the impulsive and rash rookie. But that theme plays out in the movie in a more sophisticated way. It’s not just experience vs. inexperience; it’s wisdom vs. imprudence. Robert Duvall’s character shows a deliberate prudence that makes him effective in dealing with the gangs. Sean Penn’s character shows an impulsive tactlessness that makes him ineffective when dealing with the gangs.

As I mentioned in my diary, for the most part, my PSD training went very well. I had no major conflicts with my trainer and no major incidents. However, I did have some experiences that reminded me of that scene in the movie “Colors.”

The first was when we were stuck in traffic. It was stop and go; no one was going anywhere. A car in front of me was apparently on her cell phone. A gap would form in front of her before she moved. Each time I would patiently wait for her to move forward and close the gap. At one point, my trainer said “you’re a lot more patient than I would have been. I would have laid on the horn.” I responded “It doesn’t matter, we aren’t going anywhere anyway.” The rest of the time we were in the stop and go traffic, many drivers were on the CB complaining about the traffic and also complaining about the fact that the construction workers (the reason for the slow down) were not doing anything.

The second involved stopping for fuel and food. As I sat in the driver’s seat eating my Subway sandwich, my trainer said “I’ll drive while you eat.” I looked at my status. We had been off-duty for about 15 minutes. I didn’t say anything. I just moved to the passenger seat and resumed eating my sandwich. After we rolled for a while, I heard my trainer grumble. I asked what’s wrong. “We need to take another 30.” Again, I didn’t say anything. We stopped at a truck stop and took a full 30 minute break. While we were on break, he began grumbling again. Apparently, the 30 minute break was going to put him over his 14 hour clock. Although, after double checking the exit number he realized we only had 30 miles to go in 50 minutes as opposed to 60 miles to go in 50 minutes.

My trainer has been driving since 1991, although he took some time off for a while. And while he has a lot of experience, in these two circumstances he didn’t show a lot of prudence. In the first instance, blowing the horn at the lady in front of us would not have made traffic move any quicker. In the second instance, the urgency to get back on the road cost us 17 minutes of our 14 hour clock. It was counter-productive.

In my short time out here, I understand that time is money. You’ve got your 11, 14 and 70 that you have to manage and get as much done within those clocks. So I understand the need for urgency. However, it seems that the “psychos” are those who let the sense of urgency become all consuming and they act without thinking. They rush because of the compulsion for urgency. Even when rushing is either not productive or counter-productive. And when they have to take a 30 minute break or a 10 hour break, they don’t take advantage of it. They don’t take a walk or get off the truck. Rather they do something to “burn off” that time, by engaging in a distraction that will make the time pass by.

I am sharing my thoughts because, as I stated in my diary, I intend to keep a positive attitude. I don’t want to become the “psycho” that remains in a constant state of stress and agitation. Rather, while I fully intend to perform the job well, I want to do so in a way that preserves my sanity.

I am truly thankful for the opportunity that I have been given to pursue this adventure. And I feel that I have been very lucky so far with how things have turned out. I am starting my TNT phase of training tomorrow. I realize that it will be the most stressful part of my adventure so far. However, I welcome the challenge and look forward to completing my training and upgrading to solo.

TNT tomorrow good luck and glad it's not me. Hang in there and get earplugs and a body pillow I would not have survived without those.

Great stuff Rob!

Keep that learning attitude going. You're picking up on some important insights that will help you stay ahead of the pack. There's a lot more to this than just the basic skills of driving a big monster vehicle.

You're getting it - I love hearing your reports from the road.

You have a driver's wisdom that reaches well beyond your experience, Rob. That's good stuff.

You have a driver's wisdom that reaches well beyond your experience, Rob. That's good stuff.

It really is good stuff! I'm enjoying reading your updates, but what makes me thankful the most is that you're posting it all here on the site for others to read, think about, then maybe learn something from it.

Not a classification I'd heard before, psychos v monks. I started out as a psycho though, but recently have been trying to be more like a monk. I think you're gonna go far here.

Not a classification I'd heard before, psychos v monks. I started out as a psycho though, but recently have been trying to be more like a monk. I think you're gonna go far here.

I stole it from Old School.