Anyone who drives for any length of time on the US interstate highway system quickly realizes that the highways are dominated by semi-trucks. They are everywhere. Most of the trucks are nondescript, but there are the occasional obvious businesses like FedEx, Walmart, and Amazon.

I tip my hat to truckers. Wait, I normally don’t wear hats. I just put on a hat so that I can tip it to truckers. We need truckers to transport goods all over the country. According to this CNN article, we have a shortage of truck drivers primarily due to the aging of the current drivers and lack of interest from the younger generation.

Truckers make a lot of sacrifices. They are away from their families for extended periods of time. They are sitting for hours on end. They most likely don’t have great diets. Their schedules throw off their circadian rhythms, which likely leads to poor sleep. I am sure that the trucker population as a whole scores pretty low on overall health measures. 

The next time I order something online and find myself waiting impatiently for it to arrive, I’m going to pause and think about all these truckers. Their sacrifices make life better for me and for that I am grateful.