I Pay It Forward
Paying it forward is something I honestly believe so many of us were doing long before there was a term attributed to the actions we took in our lives. Now that it has a name it almost becomes a self-conscious act by default. None the less, I embrace its spirit.
A few years back I was in need of a new vehicle and at the time was often having to rent a U-Haul trailer a few times a year. It seemed a natural choice then to buy a small truck. Personally I am not a truck person despite being from Texas where "we LOVE our trucks!" None the less, I did manage to find a smaller model truck that I drove until the transmission failed and then replaced with another small model just about the time I did not really need a truck as much as in the past.
None the less it has proven a most handy vehicle at times. Especially those times that I can, as this group would suggest I had in mind with this tale, pay it forward.
Over a great many years we had benefitted from having friends who were "the friend with a truck". A few apartment moves for ourselves or other friends, clearing out accumulated brush, and generally having occasion to haul something were all aided greatly by knowing someone who had a truck. A handful of my friends will forever have my gratitude for those times.
What better way then to illustrate as much than to be "the friend with a truck" to others. In the many years I have had a truck at my personal disposal it has served the same purpose for others that my friends' trucks had served for me in the past. I've helped move furniture from an apartment to a first house, helped a couple of college students move things either to or from school, and even hauled mountains of junk to the dump.
In every case, being the one with the truck is equally being the one willing to lift and tote and expend the better part of a day at a task nobody wants to undertake. But just like the vehicle use and fuel consumption offered freely by others, their time and their assistance were also given in the bargain. And so it is that I give my all as the guy with a truck today. Paying it forward because I know how much it means to have one less thing to worry about when you could really use a truck!
A few years back I was in need of a new vehicle and at the time was often having to rent a U-Haul trailer a few times a year. It seemed a natural choice then to buy a small truck. Personally I am not a truck person despite being from Texas where "we LOVE our trucks!" None the less, I did manage to find a smaller model truck that I drove until the transmission failed and then replaced with another small model just about the time I did not really need a truck as much as in the past.
None the less it has proven a most handy vehicle at times. Especially those times that I can, as this group would suggest I had in mind with this tale, pay it forward.
Over a great many years we had benefitted from having friends who were "the friend with a truck". A few apartment moves for ourselves or other friends, clearing out accumulated brush, and generally having occasion to haul something were all aided greatly by knowing someone who had a truck. A handful of my friends will forever have my gratitude for those times.
What better way then to illustrate as much than to be "the friend with a truck" to others. In the many years I have had a truck at my personal disposal it has served the same purpose for others that my friends' trucks had served for me in the past. I've helped move furniture from an apartment to a first house, helped a couple of college students move things either to or from school, and even hauled mountains of junk to the dump.
In every case, being the one with the truck is equally being the one willing to lift and tote and expend the better part of a day at a task nobody wants to undertake. But just like the vehicle use and fuel consumption offered freely by others, their time and their assistance were also given in the bargain. And so it is that I give my all as the guy with a truck today. Paying it forward because I know how much it means to have one less thing to worry about when you could really use a truck!
56-60, M
