A 55-foot Engelmann spruce crossed the country in November from its origin in the Uncompahgre National Forest in western Colorado to the nation’s capital. You may have seen it. It was the 2020 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
A load the size of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree stands out on the road any time, but particularly this year with reduced traffic from the COVID-19 pandemic. The holiday season is usually filled with hustle and bustle, family gatherings and large community celebrations. The pandemic stripped much of that away. Like the national Christmas tree alone on the highway, this year who and what is truly important is outlined in sharp relief.
In the year of COVID-19 we clearly see who is essential to life. We celebrate the doctors, nurses and frontline health workers who protect us from the virus. We say thank you to the grocers and pharmacists who provide our daily needs and to the farmers and ranchers for the food on our table. This year we also recognize the everyday heroes who serve our healthcare providers, who connect us to grocery and pharmacy, farm and ranch, and who maintain the invisible supply chain which makes jobs, employment and sometimes life itself a possibility. We also thank the nation’s truck drivers.
Fully 80% of the nation’s communities ship and receive goods exclusively by truck. But beyond simple modal numbers, only trucks and truck drivers reach every loading dock, warehouse, distribution center and doorstep in America. Today, with remote worksites and home offices increasingly the norm, commercial vehicle drivers are the lifeblood of business.
But this holiday season truck drivers bring more than supply chain necessities. Trucking connects us to who we are:
- We are people who care. Through Truckers Against Trafficking, truck drivers and their employers are bringing attention, and hope, to missing and exploited women and children. PrePass Safety Alliance is a platinum level sponsor of TAT.
- We are people who honor. Every December truck drivers and their companies voluntarily deliver Wreaths Across America to Arlington National Cemetery and local military cemeteries nationwide in remembrance and respect for fallen veterans.
- We are people who give. Truck drivers and motor carriers always stand ready to help their local communities. Today, those efforts often combine through organizations like the Trucking Cares Foundation, that supports active military and veteran families and pediatric brain cancer research, among other causes, and through the American Logistics Aid Network in response to natural disasters.
I’m personally pleased to say that my former colleagues in law enforcement have been out there during the pandemic, offering hand sanitizer and masks and even hot meals to truck drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is helping out, too, by sponsoring –the national Christmas tree, and reminding travelers to drive safely this holiday season.
The 98th National Christmas Tree Lighting was December 3. The tree will shine nightly till New Year’s Day, reminding us all of the good things we share this holiday season and the everyday heroes who make it possible.
Steve Vaughn is the vice president of field operations at PrePass Safety Alliance, the provider of PrePass weigh station bypass service. Vaughn served nearly three decades with the California Highway Patrol and is a past president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
