Executive Publisher’s Comment: So Long

by Ted Light

This is the December and last issue of Truck News for 2003.

The next issue will ring in the New Year and all the changes that come with it.

You may also note one small change in Truck News.

Now seems as good a time as any to end my long and often rambling run as a columnist.

As I sat down to write this column I had plans to make it a long and enthusiastic “thank you and goodbye” to my many friends in the trucking industry and the wonderful staff here at Truck News.

I quickly realized the many flaws in such a plan. This is not a goodbye to my friends in the industry and staff, as I will see them again, and clearly there is nowhere near the room in one column to thank everyone that I should.

As many of you know I have always been a reluctant writer. Putting pen to paper is a difficult task for me.

I have to admit I have often looked forward to the day when I would no longer have to write.

That’s just another of life’s little stresses relieved and taken off my plate.

I have driven more than one editor to distraction with my procrastination.

I would bet that they have looked forward to this day more than I.

Not for a moment had I considered that I will miss being a columnist.

Yet as I sit stumbling through my final lines I am increasingly aware that I will definitely miss one step in this writing process.

I am much more comfortable talking than writing, in fact these columns have always been just a talk on paper.

As with any other conversation (albeit a one-sided one) I am aware that I am conversing with someone.

Since I can’t see anyone in this process I must envision those who I am chatting with.

It is this step I will miss so much.

In my mind’s eye I envision many of the truckers I have met, sometimes a composite of truckers and other times a specific individual.

It’s at this point each month that I can reflect on all the great people I’ve met in this truck community of ours and the so many more I never had the opportunity to meet.

We are a cast of characters are we not?

Thanks for listening and have a Happy New Year.


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