Perspective

I make it a habit of walking through the shop several times every day to see who's trucks we're working on, chat with the technicians, and generally just  keep tabs on the business.  I especially like talking to our customers and getting to know them.  I'm a firm believer that people still buy from people, and I want to try to get to know (or at least say hello and thank for the business) every customer that walks through our door. 

Today as I was making my rounds in Billings when I saw an older Freightliner sitting in Bay 3 with the engine apart.  I asked Allen Higgins about it and he told me I really needed to meet the owners.  So I walked into the drivers lounge and introduced myself to Mr and Mrs. Hamood Nazik (please forvgive me if I misspelled the name).

It turns out Mr and Mrs Nazik used to own a trucking company in Bagdhad, yes, that Bagdhad, and were quite prosperous until Saddam Hussein took it all away from them before the second Gulf War.  They came to the U.S. to escape the persecution and landed at the airport with $70 in their pockets. 

That was ten years ago, and since then they've purchased a used truck, got on with Landstar, managed to purchase a house in Phoenix and finished raising their nine children, several of which I understand are doctors now.

I chatted with them for a few minutes, letting them know I certainly appreciated their business.  They made it a point (in very broken English) to tell me that our shop comes highly recommended from everyone they spoke to at the local Pilot Truck Stop and that they love coming through Montana because they have always been treated especially well by the people here. (Something which I can personally attest to as well)

I don't know if it was appropriate to do so or not, but I felt very compelled to welcome them (albeit somewhat tardy) to my country and ask them how they liked it.  They both were literally beaming when they answered that they loved their new country and all the opportunity it has given them.  They told me this all the while sitting on an old couch, waiting for their truck to be repaired.

It really made me think.  Some people would have been annoyed, frustrated, or downright angry at their situation.  After all, who wants to spend a couple of days away from home waiting for your truck to be repaired?  Not this couple. After all they've been through as a husband and wife, mother and father, and business owners, they are still ecstatic at the fact that they are here at all:  A country where although everyone doesn't always get along, they are free to pursue their dreams, knowing full well that it will be a long hard road with no guarantees of success, but they can at least do so with the peace of mind that some dictator's thugs won't be coming around in the middle of the night to take it all away. 

So while we Americans get angry at each over things large and small, we should on occasion stop to consider that we at least have the freedom to do so without the threat of being butchered.  Perspective is a sobering thing. 

God Bless!