What Happened To 'truckers'?

I rember growing up back in the 800 and turing on a cb and hearing trucker helping each other out. Now it's just *****ing and complaining and bashing companies.

Hell I had a headlight go out on me, granted I knew about it but no one was kind enough to let me know. Hell there was nothing said when a car flipped blocking the hammer lane.

This is why I don't have a CB.

I always run my cb. It's to useful.

I run my cb always and i do stop n help n let others know , we old schoolers are a dying breed because of these new breeds coming in thinking they came from momma with a truck steering wheel in their hand.

I saw a guy a few nights ago with no trailer lights. I tried to let him know but got no answer. About 50 miles down the road he hit a bump hard enough that theyes came on. StI'll they were out nearly an hour in the middle if the night.

I think our society as a whole has changed in a big way over the past few decades. Families don't stay together, companies and their employees take advantage of each other, and people seem more than content to sit back and do nothing while they live off the taxes paid by hard working people. Heck, people even stopped taking care of themselves many years ago. Heck, I grew up hearing the Special K "pinch an inch" commercials where if you could pinch an inch of fat you needed to lose a few pounds. Most people nowadays can pinch an inch on their forehead and on both of their chins.

People have simply become more lazy, more selfish, and they expect less of themselves and more of others around them. Why? I think it's pretty simple. People nowadays are spoiled.

Go back a little over 100 years and you had WWI, soon followed by the Great Depression and WWII. And don't forget, there was virtually nothing in the way of Government assistance back then. You either worked hard for your food and the roof over your head or you had neither. Simple as that. I have photos of some of the women from previous generations of my family working the farm fields by hand with babies strapped to their backs! I mean, people really worked hard.

Well each generation over the past 100 years pretty much had one goal in mind - work as hard as possible and sacrifice as much as necessary to make things nicer for the next generation so they wouldn't have to go through the same hardships. Makes perfect sense. And as incredible as it sounds they actually did it! Life in the U.S. has gotten nothing but easier for over 100 years.

Now I'm 43 and I think my generation was the last "mixed" generation. Some of us were raised old school by parents and grandparents that had gone through the World Wars and the Great Depression. They insisted that we understood the history and were prepared both mentally and physically to handle the same type of hardships in our lives without expecting or accepting any assistance. My parents were at the very beginning of the Baby Boomer generation.

But many people from my generation were simply coddled. Their parents took the approach that they wanted their children insulated from the hardships in life. If they could avoid that type of thing altogether, that would be best. There were few, if any, expectations put upon them. If they needed something they were given it. If they screwed up (like in school) their parents would blame the teachers. If they got in trouble with the law their parents would blame the officers and the laws of our society. The kids didn't need to do much of anything and certainly could do no wrong. Well there's no mystery in how people are going to turn out when they're raised that way.

Not only that, but suffering and hardship is what helped people understand the value of loyalty and cooperation. People learned that in the toughest of times you're going to need each other to make it through. When was the last time the American citizens needed to pull together to get through something? I would say WWII when food and commodities were rationed, many millions of men went off to war, and the women worked the factories. I think that was the last time everyday life in America truly changed because of a hardship. And no, 9/11 isn't on that list. All that truly changed for the average citizen was that airport security lines took longer. If you didn't turn on CNN you wouldn't have known it happened.

I'm afraid the camaraderie in trucking suffered the same fate. Back in the day you didn't have cell phones, Qualcomm , GPS, and all that. All you really had for communication was the CB and a payphone. If a truck broke down a bunch of other drivers would often pitch in to help fix it. If a car broke down a trucker would often stop to fix it or take the people to town so they could find help. People really needed others around them to get through the challenges of everyday life. Nowadays if you suffer a breakdown you simply send in a macro and people come to your rescue.

On top of that you now have awesome communication tools. Ironically the communication we all now have with our families back home and the authorities when we need help has separated truckers from each other. Truckers didn't have anything except each other back in the day. You'd get a 30 minute phone call on a payphone once a day with your family back home - that was it. Your real family became the truckers you spoke with on the CB and in the truck stops. So ironically the improvement in communication technologies has lead to truckers communicating less with each other and relying on each other less than they had. So unfortunately we don't have the bond we once had.

In response to Brett's well-thought post, I think the mark was missed.

Anytime anybody laments about the present and waxes nostalgic about the days of old, they have lost perspective on a fundamental truth, or perhaps never understood it. While it might seem times have changed, or people have gotten worse or better, people have not historically changed.

People are always capable of the very worst, and also the very best - with a little Extra help. There are darker days and cycles of change, but people have relatively remained the same, and always will. It's called human nature.

In response to Brett's well-thought post, I think the mark was missed...people have relatively remained the same, and always will. It's called human nature.

"The mark" was that there used to be a much stronger camaraderie amongst truckers decades ago than there has been in recent decades. You can talk human nature all you like but if you can't recognize basic differences in behavior amongst groups of people over time or you can't conceive of what would cause such changes then you're the one missing something. If you think truckers interact with each other today the same as they did 50 years ago then you need more help than I can give you.

Anytime anybody laments about the present and waxes nostalgic about the days of old, they have lost perspective on a fundamental truth, or perhaps never understood it

Oh is that what it is? So anytime someone believes that something used to be better than it is today means they're simply delusional? Why is that? Because everything always stays the same or gets better?

Example.....I've always loved Christmas and everything about it - the decorations, Christmas Carols, Christmas plays, the energy in the air - everything about it. But in recent years in my region they've basically outlawed the public celebration of Christmas. You won't hear kids singing Christmas Carols anymore...they sing "Holiday Songs" which are neutral and generic. You won't find Christmas Trees in many places outside the home any longer. You'll find "Holiday Decorations" instead which are neutral and have no association to anything. My best friend and her mother worked at a jewelry store in the mall for many years. In recent years they had to sign a paper agreeing not to say the words "Merry Christmas" to customers anymore. They were to say "Happy Holidays". The first time they wish someone Merry Christmas they get written up. The second time they're fired. And lastly, one of my favorite things to do was go to the mall on the 22nd or 23rd when everything was at a peak because the decorations were awesome and the spirit was so much fun. But nowadays they do not decorate the malls around here for Christmas. They look exactly the same way at Christmas as the do in June. You won't find any ornaments or giant Christmas trees or nothing.

But hey, maybe I've just lost perspective on a fundamental truth or never understood it. Why don't you help me understand it a little better? Because it seems to me if someone would have told me years ago that I'd be living in a world someday where you'd be reprimanded for wishing someone Merry Christmas I would've never thought it could be possible.

In response to Brett's well-thought post, I think the mark was missed...people have relatively remained the same, and always will. It's called human nature.

"The mark" was that there used to be a much stronger camaraderie amongst truckers decades ago than there has been in recent decades. You can talk human nature all you like but if you can't recognize basic differences in behavior amongst groups of people over time or you can't conceive of what would cause such changes then you're the one missing something. If you think truckers interact with each other today the same as they did 50 years ago then you need more help than I can give you.

I agree with what you're saying here. And didn't I mention that there are cycles and periods of change? I'm speaking of a more fundamental truth that underlies the seasons of change we can observe on the surface. Your points of technology and how truckers have changed with interaction is a great point. My comment was directed towards more root issues like selfishness, things of that nature.