Something About An Old Red Truck

This is not to be confused with the [trying way too hard to be] country song, "Somethin' Bout A Truck."
If you haven't heard that song, don't worry, you aren't missing out.
If that is your favorite song, go ahead, punch me in the face. I don't love it, okay?
But something I do love is . . . can you guess? Old red trucks, of course!

What is it about old things that is so fascinating to us? Why do we pay for "vintage" clothes, why are antique shops profitable, why do we look back at all the things that happened before we were even here?
Why am I so drawn to old cars, old pictures, old scrapbooks, old anything?
Why do I get all excited when someone tells me "this is a first edition" or "this was your great-grandma's"?
Why do I love the sight of crumpled paper, dilapidated comic books, stacks of yellowing letters held together with twine?
Why do we travel all over the world to see pyramids, or cathedrals, or bell towers, or castles from hundreds of years ago?

Because . . . there's just something about old things. There's something about that old red truck that says, "hey, you haven't been here for as long as I have. You haven't seen what I've seen. You don't know what I know. And maybe if you stick around for long enough, I'll tell you. Maybe if you care enough, I can tell you what I've learned and seen. And then you won't even have to go through what I've been through to learn that."
And then you say "Oh, thanks truck. I love how you're rusty and your headlights are shattered and your engine hasn't run for 15 years."
And the truck can tell you how you get through life without getting your headlights broken. How to keep your tires from getting quite so worn down, how to keep your electrical wiring intact.

Because . . . they've survived for this long. That means they're special, right?

Because . . . it's natural for us to look back and say, "what happened? how did we get here? why is the world how it is?"

Because . . . even though history may seem so detached from us, it's all intricately connected with our individual lives today. No matter who you are, not matter where you live, your life is how it is because decisions people made hundreds, thousands of years ago. Your government was made by someone else. Your grandparents had kids, who then had kids, and that's why you're alive. That t-shirt you're wearing? Eli Whitney, cotton gin man. (Yeah, that's probably the only thing I remember from my AP U.S. History days . . .)

Plus, old things lead to yard sales. And yard sales are where you can find total gems, like this sweater. Definitely my biggest success of the weekend was discovering this at a yard sale yesterday!



So there's my plug for old cars and history books.
And one more thing, here's what I want you to take from this:
Talk to old people. Talk to anyone who remembers a time that you don't remember. You can learn a lot from them, and they probably wouldn't mind telling you about it if you would take the time to listen.

There's just something about an old red truck. I still don't know what it is, but I've tried to figure it out through writing this.