Working Around the Glock

[Sober Duck]

Working Around the Glock
By
Richard Moylan Jr.
Every time I leave the house I can’t help thinking whether or not I will return safely home. When a family member ventures away from home I have the same concerns for them. Especially now after the recent rash of school shootings that have plagued our communities and taken so many innocent lives. I have realized that a bullet could come at any given time of the day not from a violent criminal but from just about anyone. Yes chances are when that bullet comes it will be from a criminal such as a strong arm bandit or a stray from a drug crazed shoot out but it has become quite clear to me that a bullet could come from many sources such as a jealous lover in a case of mistaken identity, an accidental shooting from law enforcement, a disgruntle postal worker or from an innocent six year old who found daddy’s loaded gun under the bed. So now when I go out to make my living it feels as if I’m working around the Glock.

[stilltrucking]

Excellent piece Richard.

I get the same feeling when I am driving sometimes. Just out of the blue, distracted I run a stop sign. Or someone else does. A truck blows a tire comes across the median strip head on. I hear the crash, the sudden pain, ...

I blew a steer axle tire on interstate forty, what a ride that was. For years afterwards I used to drive with a death grip on the wheel, white knuckles, waiting for the next blow out. Then a world war two vet was driving with me one day and saw those white knuckles. He asked me what was wrong? I told him. He told me to relax, if I was all tensed up waiting for it to happen I would be useless if it did happen again. This was a guy who had been blown off the deck of a carrier in the Pacific. I figured he knew what he was talking about.

In Texas they got an expression, "Hang Tight." I always thought it was "Hang Loose"

Happy motoring.

Sorry to go off topic, I just liked your Work Around The Glock a lot.

[Sober Duck]

Off topic, not really.

That Double Yellow Line

by: Richard Moylan Jr.

We all set out each day, ready to take care of our business and obligations not giving a second thought to the little things that are supposed to keep us alive. Every where we go, we are separated from death by a thread, a white or yellow line, a double yellow line. We take for granted that no one will cross that double yellow line with a bus and end our lives. This happens every day to some one and could happen at any time. We take for granted this will not and can not happen to us. In the mean time we travel around in the fast lane going seventy or eighty miles an hour, one length away from the person in front of us tail gating with disaster.
Every where we go that yellow line is there, when we are at work, at play, traveling or sleeping, we all hope that we will see another day but we still push the envelope, we all walk on the edge of that yellow line. Maybe we're all thrill seekers and don't even know it.
Life can be a frail and delicate garment that we use the wash and wear cycle on and we assume that we won't wear it out. We ingest poisons every day, alcohol, tobacco, cholesterol, drugs, even the air we breathe can be poisonous. Most of us are aware of what's bad for us but we just can't stay away or be cautious. We just have to live dangerously.
Personally, I don't appreciate this. I've spent the last several years living one day at a time in the slow lane watching everyone pass me on there way to certain destruction and there's nothing I can do about it; except learn. I've learned. Every day some one teaches me to slow down, put some space between me and obvious destruction. It's a shame that my lessons come with such a high price, a life.
It's the twenty-first century and people are living longer than ever and we're dying faster than ever, or should I say, being killed faster than ever. With today's medical advances a person should be able to live to a ripe old age. On the other hand technological advances has made the world a much more dangerous place to live in. Today, everything we have is bigger, faster, stronger, more volatile than ever. Can we handle these kinds of technological advances? Every time a plane crashes or I see one of those new fast cars disintegrate upon impact I wonder.
It seems to me with today's media, specifically news coverage, we should be very aware of the every day dangers that we live with. However, it seems to me that most of us are trying to find out first hand how dangerous life can be.
I can see that we want to get to the top of the ladder as quickly as possible and this motivates us into the fast lane, but do we have to go that route? Can't we slow down
a little, take a few extra minutes to notice and become more aware of the dangers that we may be heading for? I wish we could, because I have a hard time watching out for myself without having to watch out for everyone else. Eventually I may become more paranoid.

[mnaz]

Yeahbut.... if you spend every waking moment thinking about potential danger and death around every corner and "playing it safe" in every way, are you really living in the first place? People looked at me like I was crazy to give up my good job and hit the road for a couple years awhile back, but I wouldn't trade that experience for any amount of lost wages, etc. I live in the Pac NW, which geologists say is due for a major earthquake one of these years-- the Big One-- a subduction-zone nine-pointer, which could level most of my city and kill most of its inhabitants with no warning whatsoever. It's a truly horrifying prospect, but if I were to dwell on this, beyond assembling some sort of reasonable emergency kit, then I might forget to actually keep on living, for all the worry and looking over my shoulder....

On the issue of speed, I hear ya, however. People, people.... How fast is fast enough? Jeez. On the other hand, if you want to do 23 in a 30 mph zone and hold up 15 others behind you, then pull over and let your fellow man by.... This ain't rocket science.