Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: politics


by 10 Comments

Don’t let them down

At our tiny local cemetery flags fly for our Veterans.

Today is Veteran’s Day here in the US.  It’s a day when we remember those that have and still serve in the armed forces and we express our appreciation for their sacrifices.

A World War I Veteran rests.

It hasn’t been a week since the election.  Maybe your guy won.  Maybe your guy lost.

There’s a story to be told right on this marker.

Regardless, how about we make an effort to work together now, starting on this Veteran’s Day.

The founding family of our small town served.

We can move forward together, compromise, fix stuff, make this a better place to live.   For all of us.  Most of all, let’s not let these Veterans down.  We can make them proud of us if we work together.   Heck, we could be proud of ourselves.  And that counts too.

So many have served over such a long time.

Let’s not squander the gift we’ve been given.  Freedom isn’t something to waste.

Thank you.


by 12 Comments

Honey, Bill Clinton is on the phone for you.

Bill Clinton called last night.  His was one of several calls we received that evening asking us to vote one way or another on a proposal or for a candidate.  Yes he was recorded, and no he didn’t ask for my husband by name.  But still, to pick up the phone and hear a former president say “This is Bill Clinton and I’m asking you to vote yes on proposal two”  did seem a little surreal.

Here in Michigan, aside from the race for President, Senator, Representative, university regents, judges, assorted local officials and a tax millage we also have six proposals to vote on.  Five of them are proposals to amend the state constitution.  This is serious business that should take serious consideration.

People are being inundated with information on both sides of every issue.  The advertisements range from sensitive and seemingly thoughtful, playing on our sympathy, to strident and threatening, playing on our fears.  How do we know what to believe?  We can’t even tell from the names of the organizations funding the ads.  One evening I listed to three adds in a row regarding proposal four which revolves around home health care providers.  Two of the ads were asking us to support the proposal.  The ad in the middle asked us not to support it.  Two of the ads said the other ad was an outright lie.  It’s patently obvious someone is lying,  but who?

Each issue is the same; a barrage of ads, phone calls, mailers and editorials.   And though I understand both sides must tell their story, with so much on the ballot the end result of this avalanche of information appears to be confusion and frustration.  I’m tired of it.  I wish we could all have a calm discussion about what each of these proposals would really do, and then brainstorm together about what each of them might do unintentionally, be it good or bad.  Because I don’t think any of these proposals have been thought out thoroughly.  Every piece of legislation and each constitutional amendment has the potential for unintentional consequences.  Each piece of propaganda we receive tells only one side of the story.

Tonight as we’re listening to the latest robo call and sifting through the mailbox’s latest deposit I am counting the days until November 6th.  I’m not sure which way I’ll vote on these proposals, but I don’t want any more help, thank you very much.  I’ll figure it out on my own with the information I already have.

Don’t call again, Mr. President.  It was nice talking to you but we’re all good here.  A little bit of peace and time to think is what we need now.

Please.


by 24 Comments

Cab speak

Halls of change.

I took a lot of cabs while I was in DC, and had a couple of interesting conversations with the drivers while dodging other cars and weaving up side streets.

The first cab ride from the airport to Capitol Hill was a none stop monologue from the driver that started as soon as I entered the cab and told him I needed to go to a Senate office building.  “You going to a meeting?”   Yes I told him.  “What do you do?”  I’m a banker.  “Oh…good job for a woman.”  I bit my tongue and told him sometimes it was a crazy stressful job.  “Everyone always want the job they do not have” he said.  “People need to be more optimistic.  People are always so negative.  Not the way to go, people need to be more optimistic.  People here, they don’t know how good they have it.  If they travel around the world like I do they see, when they come back, this is the best country in the world.  Rest of world have nothing like America.  Do you like Obama?  I’m scared that Romney win, this country go to war, lose everything.  I pray it not so.  How many kids you got?  None?  Why not?  You don’t want kids?  I guess OK no kids if you have lots of nieces and nephews? ”  And on and on it went.   As I slipped out of the cab at my destination he said “You have good meeting lady!”

The second conversation I had with a cab driver was more evenly divided between us.  He picked me up in front of a Senate office building and was driving me back to my hotel in Georgetown.  He asked me why I was in Washington and I told him I was working on some trucking fatigue issues.

“Like when they get sleepy and weave all over and then run off the road and kill people?”

“Yes exactly like that.”

“Why do they do that?  Fall asleep like that?”

“Because they get paid by the mile, and the more miles they drive the more money they make.”

“Well that’s stupid.  They should get paid by the hour like everyone else.”

“Yes they should.”

“So why you working on this?”

“Cause my dad was killed by a tired trucker.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry.  So how often do you come to Washington to do this?”

“Maybe once a year, sometimes twice if there’s something important going on in Congress.”

“How are you gonna stop them from driving too long?”

“Well, we got legislation passed last August that requires electronic monitoring of the miles they drive, so they can’t lie in their log books.”

“That’s good.  That’s very good.”

“Yes, it took a long time to get that”

“Everything slow in Washington.”

“And we’re working on a lot of other stuff too, to make the roads safer for everyone.”

“Truck drivers…. they agree with you?”

“Lots of them do.  They die too, you know, in truck crashes.  Everyone on the road is at risk.  Cab drivers too.”

We pull into the hotel parking lot.  As I’m paying the fare he turns around and looks me in the eye.

“I want to say thank you.”

My eyes tear up.

“I want to say thank you, and I wish your group well lady.”

“You’re welcome sir.  You’re very welcome.”


by 6 Comments

DC prep

I’m getting ready for my trip to DC this week where we’ll be filming a video about the Truck Safety Coalition.  My part of it deals with our outreach efforts.  I’ve been writing answers to potential questions, getting the feel for the words, figuring out how I might say something, working on impact.

Can I practice on you?  These are not the exact questions, I haven’t been provided those yet…but this is the topic and the areas that will be covered.  And this is my first attempt at trying to explain the importance of our outreach piece.  Yes we work on changing laws and getting new rules issued.  But we also work at finding the families touched by truck crashes and offering them support.

So here goes:

Why is it important to reach out to families?

These families have been, without warning, thrust into a world filled with pain and grief.  They aren’t prepared, and everything is confusing.  The heartache is unbelievable.  Most don’t know what they should do first, where they should focus.  It’s all they can do to get through each day, one moment at a time.

While they are in the initial stages of shock and grief they don’t realize there are things they may need to do to preserve evidence, to help them later when they face the court system and the truck company. They are focused on their loved one, whether it’s to prepare a funeral, or help them begin the long road back to health.    We provide them information if they want it, resources if they need them, and most importantly, a listening ear, a hug, support from someone that’s been in a similar position.

What is special about the Sorrow to Strength Conference?

The Sorrow to Strength Conference, held every other year,  is a place where  survivors and families of truck crash victims can gather and share.  We honor our lost loved ones, we support the injured and we provide hope for those families just beginning the long journey.

We spend the weekend connecting with other families and learning how to make changes in the industry, either through legislation or governmental safety agencies.  Most families have had no political experience, so this is all new and somewhat intimidating. The conference helps to introduce victims and families to ways they can make a difference.  There is a universal feeling among families who attend the conference; they want changes made so that another family doesn’t have to go through what they are going through.

The conference identifies key truck safety priorities, and arranges for families to meet with their state’s legislative offices to discuss safety issues.   The conference also arranges meetings with members of the Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.  These are all important agencies with safety oversight responsibilities.

Sometimes people in Washington forget that there are faces on statistics.  When 4,000 people die in truck related crashes each year it can be hard to focus on individuals.  The Sorrow to Strength conference allows Truck Safety volunteers, comprised of families who have borne the brunt of these tragedies, to bring the statistics back to human scale.  When five or six of us sit in a meeting room, holding our loved ones pictures, and each of us tells the short version of our story, one after another, the impact is unforgettable.  Administrators who have been working on studies and research look us each in the eye and realize that safety has to be their number one priority.  Without the conference none of us would have access to these people, or an opportunity to tell our stories to such high ranking officials.

What do these outreach programs mean to a family who has experienced a loss?

I can speak from my own experience.  When Dad was killed in 2004 we were suddenly alone in a crazy world that we didn’t understand.  Truck Safety gave us direction, told us what to look for in a lawyer, what to do first to preserve evidence.  And as we moved through the process they helped us to understand what to expect from each step and how to prepare for it.     I don’t know what we would have done without them.

For other families, the connection with a Truck Safety volunteer may provide a safe place, maybe the only safe place they have, for them to express their grief no matter what.  When the rest of the world has moved on and a family member feels like they should ‘be over it’ the volunteer will tell them that it’s OK to grieve.  It’s OK to feel bad.  That someday they won’t feel so bad, but for now whatever they are feeling is right, and no they are not going crazy.

Truck Safety Outreach programs help families get through the sorrow and move toward strength.  Every family wants to make a difference, and through Truck Safety they can.  Unfortunately it is inevitable that there will be new families joining us this year and every year.    Our goal is to try to find those families and to let them know that they are not alone.    It’s the way we can make a difference.

And it’s the way we honor those we loved and lost.


by 9 Comments

Come on now.

Anyone else out there want to walk into the conference room where Democrats and Republicans are supposedly working on a compromise to fix our deficit problem?  If you could get their attention, what would you say?  I think a lot of us would tell them to stop posturing, stop drawing lines in the sand and get to work solving the problem.

If I could command their attention for five minutes I’d tell them to settle down.  To recognize that most of us regular people have challenging problems at work too.  But we go to work every day and we make the tough decisions;  we come to the best conclusions   given the information we have.  We make those decisions, then we move on and begin to solve the next problem.  We do it every day, and we don’t even get health insurance for the rest of our lives.  Nor salaries anywhere near what they are earning to sit around and talk in circles, insult each other, and vie for television sound bites to make their views heard.  Their main purpose seems to be getting reelected – rather than saving the economic health of our country.  Which is sort of what got us into this mess in the first place.

Time is ticking people.  The talking heads on the TV say that if we default we’ll head into “another recession.”  Well, maybe they haven’t noticed that we’re not out of the current recession yet.  Not by a long shot.  So if we’re heading for another recession on the heels of  this one… well… lots more people are going to be unemployed.  Lots more homes will be defaulted on.  Lots more homeless people will be looking for help from government agencies that won’t be funded.

Sounds bleak doesn’t it.  So you people up there in DC, the ones that are supposed to understand all this, the ones we voted for to get us out of the jam we were in, the ones making the salaries, getting the glory, the huge retirement, the health insurance, the pension, you people need to get moving.  You need to open your minds and open your hearts and figure out something that will save us all.   Because the rest of us out here are watching.  And we’re taking names.

Sorry.  I’ll get off my soapbox now and return you to the regularly scheduled blog.