Summer is going faster than it came. In so many ways I am glad about this, but in others I am not. I have just been working a mindless job at the coal mine. I drive a 240 ton haul truck. Somedays it is filled with coal, other days dirt. It is like the circle of no return. People that work out there do it end up there for the rest of their lives. The benefits are good, and considering the challenge of work (no much) the pay is good. My dad has worked out there and done driven truck for 16 years, and after a mere 8 days of 12 hour shifts, driving alone, my respect level and appreciation for what he gives me has gone up. He knows that he doesn't want his kids out there, but he does it in order to provide more for us. I am able to go to college, and do things because of him. It is a circle of trucks with no end, or return because the guys that work out there do so to provide or because they do no have education, so a haul truck anyone with half a mind could drive is what they do. The hardest thing for me about it, is that you can't even have a decent conversation with the people out there because they do not think. It is a the WYOMING, Republican outlook on life and there isn't much past getting a new lumber store in town. It is one of the most narrow minded places I have been. It is like the people are scared to go against what is told of them, and that they don't know better since the majority start when they are around 20 and leave then they are old enough, or have enough years in to retire. I must admit that if it wasn't for the coal mines, Wyoming would be nothing. They are the biggest resource, and provide the most money for the economy. I know that the company I am now working for provides me with money for college, with a scholarship last year and then again one this year if I complete the entire summer SAFELY. It is like they are trying to provide outlets to get the family members something better. I know that the jobs out there can't last forever, sooner or later the coal will be gone. Each day I think about a more productive way of removing the coal that would be quicker and not as much damage to the land.
For now though I am glad for the chance to make the money, and to help provide Wyoming with its life. I know that I have a limited time to drive in circles, and that my last day is marked on the calendar, but for others it isn't. I have to return to the life that I would rather live.
