As you’ve probably noticed, the Matchmaker team has been focused on superheroes for over a year now. And why not? Their stories entertain us in theaters and comic books, and their adventures inspire us to live bigger, braver lives. In 2014, we learned a lot of lessons from our study of superheroes. The best one, however, was that you don’t need special powers to be a hero. All you need is a good heart, an honest soul, and a willingness to step up to the plate when duty calls.
This important lesson didn’t come from Batman, Ironman, Wonder Woman, or The Green Lantern. It came from the men and women we work with every single day. In 2014, we highlighted many of these people with our Driver of the Month program, including:
• The driver who treated a fellow Alabama fan to a team shirt, showing that kindness makes the best sidekick.
• The driver who says “thank you” with donuts, saving breakfast one bear claw at a time.
• The driving duo that got married while making a delivery in Las Vegas, proving that love is the greatest power of all.
• The driver who pulled two people from a burning car wreck, showing that we are all capable of saving the day.
While we’ve loved highlighting these drivers (and the other 2014 Drivers of the Month on Facebook), we realized we could be doing more. That’s why in 2015, we’ll not only keep the tradition alive, we’ll expand it to include the daring dispatchers, super shippers, and other folks in our industry who regularly go above and beyond. But before we do that, we’ve got one more amazing story to share and one award to give away.
Already this year, a truck driver has made the news for doing something truly heroic. He was at a Pilot truck stop near Richmond, VA, when he saw a man walking back and forth between his RV and the convenience store. The driver’s “Spidey sense” started tingling. When he glimpsed a young woman peeking her head out of the RV before being shoved abruptly back in, followed shortly by a loud commotion, he knew something wasn’t right. He called 911 and when police arrived at the scene, they discovered that the girl had been kidnapped from Iowa several weeks ago. If that truck driver hadn’t stepped up and done the right thing, who knows what would have happened to that young woman?
I’m thankful for that truck driver, and for the other heroes that I have the privilege of working with everyday. I can’t wait to share our official announcement next week of our 2014 Driver of the Year and more stories about the Superheroes of Shipping with you in 2015.
Do something super this weekend,
~Bob
