Hang on: there’s great chance you will survive the roller coaster
LIKE A ROLLER-COASTER: Yes, the ride will be over and you will be back on level ground and come out of all this chaos and you will rise above it all if you believe you can.
By MICK SEVERIN
The Trucker News Services
7/23/2008
Sales of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) at Ford Motor Co. are down more than 55 percent and overall vehicle sales at Ford are down 28 percent. General Motors SUV sales have declined 39 percent and its overall vehicle sales are down almost 20 percent. This downward spiral has put stocks for one of the world’s greatest and mightiest corporations, GM, at their lowest levels at their lowest level in 36 years.
Chrysler is down in overall sales 36 percent but, just so you know that the American automobile companies are not alone in taking these financial hits, Toyota is down in overall sales 21 percent. Honda is the only one who showed any upward movement, a mere 1.1 percent.
You wouldn’t want to have stock in Home Depot, Lowe’s or Starbucks right now. Starbucks, one of the fastest growing corporations just a little over a year ago, is now closing over 600 stores and laying off over 12,000 people.
Crude oil is, at this writing, up to more than $140 a barrel, natural gas is up, the cost of milk is almost more than a gallon of gas, and soybeans are up to $16.28 a bushel after being less than $10.00 a bushel not quite a year ago. Money from foreign investment is coming into this country like never before and I woke up with a flat tire on my Chevy Silverado pickup truck and an almost empty gas tank on Monday morning.
I was in New York City just a couple of weeks ago and my friend and I were walking on the infamous boardwalk at Coney Island. I was looking at the greatest rollercoaster ever built, the Cyclone, as it started up the first hill. I was thinking how life, certainly at this moment, is a lot like that rollercoaster. We’re all in the first car, the handle is in the locked position and we can feel and hear that “clicking” noise as the chain pulls us up to the top of that first unbelievably, high, fast downhill run.
At the top of that first downhill run we’re all a little apprehensive and I believe there is a little fear in everyone aboard. Some people close their eyes and hang on to that rail for dear life, others hold up their hands in defiance of the fear, or they’re just crazy.
Regardless of your financial position, fear, anger, defiance, fantasies or realities you are going down, at a very high rate of speed, in a car filled with a lot of other people and you have no choice but to take the ride.
If you have ever taken a ride on any rollercoaster you will remember that it seemed at a certain moment, there is no one else sitting in that cart, hanging on to that rail but you.
In your life you make all the decisions some are easy and some are “downhill,” “fear-filled,” completely alone moments that you will have to deal with. At these times you can only rely on what you have learned over time, advice you received over the years and, your most important asset … the state of your health.
Hard times call for strong backbones. You have to eat the right foods, you have to exercise and you have to take time to take a deep breath and look at things from different perspectives. It is very, very difficult to be strong, decisive and in control when life is coming at you from all sides but your only choice is to be strong.
Like the Cyclone rollercoaster at Coney Island in New York, when it starts down that first unbelievable hill if you don’t stand up and if you don’t jump out eventually it’s over and you’re back on level ground.
Yes, the ride will be over and you will be back on level ground and come out of all this chaos and you will rise above it all if you believe you can.
Be healthy, be strong, be decisive and remember we are here if you need us. All you have to do is call (888) FIT-ROAD (368-7623). We will help you with your strength issues.
God bless you and yours, Mick.