You are probably wondering what these three have in common and why on earth I would choose to group these three together in comparison. Call it total frustration for one but also because I have some personal experience with all three.

The media has helped considerably with the reputation of all three with its constant attention to drama for the sake of ratings and readers. If it were up to media and society, all three of these would be banned by now. Personally, I have a vested interest in all three. Therefore, I wanted to address a few of the myths that have been portrayed against truckers, Pit Bulls and MLM.

I have been married to a trucker for 13 years and had truckers in my family for as long as I can remember. I have even spent 6 years over the road in a big truck so I have seen both sides of the trucking industry. What really gets me the most is how the media and society have turned the reputation of the trucking industry into a monstrous conspiracy of attack against vehicle operators and society in general.

Since the media focuses on drama to attract ratings and readers, they prefer to report the bad over the good in most any situation but especially in the trucking industry. They have society believing that the highways are filled with Renegade truckers waiting in the wings ready to run down the first vehicle to cross their paths. While there are tens of thousands more fatal crashes involving light weight vehicles than heavy vehicles, the only ones that seem to dominate the media are the ones involving heavy weight vehicles, regardless of which one caused the accident.

Below are some statistics concerning these crashes:

• Over a 20 year period (from 1986 to 2006) there has been a 49% increase in registered large trucks and a 76% increase in miles traveled by large trucks.
• Over the same time period, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes has decreased by 7% and the vehicle involvment rate for large trucks in fatal crashes has decreased by 47%.
• Over a 10 year period (from 1996 to 2006) there has been a 23% increase in registered large trucks and a 22% increase in miles traveled by large trucks. The number of large trucks involved in injury crashes has decreased by 14% during this time period and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in injury crashes has declined by 30%.

• Number of fatal crashes in 2006: 4,321
• Vehicles involved: 4,732
• Occupant fatalities: 805
• Total Fatalities: 4,995
• Large trucks registered: 8,819,007

Note: A large truck is defined as a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds (includes medium and heavy trucks).

Sources: Vehicle Miles of Travel and Registered Vehicles: Federal Highway Administration. Fatal Crashes, Vehicles Involved and Fatalities: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

What the media wants you to hear is about these huge, man-killing machines that are running rampant on our highways and what an excellent lawsuit you have if you are injured by one. I am not saying that some drivers don't deserve being sued in the right situation, however, you should never assume that just because a big truck was involved, it is always the trucker's fault. In fact, in the majority of the cases, it is quite the contrary.

Below is a descriptive analysis of light vehicle-heavy vehicle interactions using in situ driving data from Virginia Tech Transportation Institution.

Two recently completed on-road in situ (naturalistic) data collection efforts provided a large data set in which to conduct an examination of crashes, near-crashes, and crash-relevant conflicts (referred to as critical incidents throughout this paper) that occurred between light vehicles (LV) and heavy vehicles (HV). Video and non-video data collected during the two studies were used to characterize critical incidents that were recorded between LV and HV drivers. Across both studies, 210 LV-HV critical incidents were recorded. Of these, 78% were initiated by LV drivers, while the remaining 22% were initiated by HV drivers. Aggressive driving, on the part of the LV driver, was found to be the primary Contributing Factor for LV driver-initiated incidents.

Why do you suppose that the media doesn't report these types of findings. This is only one sample of many studies that have been done with the same results, ranging from 70 - 85% of the causes being the light vehicle. So, for the media and society as well, to paint these drivers as anything less than professional in most cases is just totally bias. Do we have careless truckers out there? Of course we do! Just as we have countless numbers of careless vehicle drivers, pedestrians, motercyclists, etc., etc.

Another thing that they don't report is the number of what the trucking industry refers to as "Highway Angels" are on the roads today. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, it is simply drivers who take time along their route to help others and in many, many cases, to save a life. I have witnessed these cases first hand and I was proud to be on the road among them.

Truckers don't have to be feared, only respected and understood. Realize that just because they have 18 wheels doesn't mean they have 18 breaks and with 80,000 lbs. pushing them forward, it is not wise for you to cut in front of them and lock your breaks! Be informed. Learn the facts and become familiar with what it takes for these drivers to come to a safe stop and just give them a little room. It seems that everyone wants the products they bring but nobody wants the trucks. You should all realize that if you have it, a trucker brought it!

Another subject under attack in the media is the Pit Bull breed. There are so many false facts reported on this, mainly because the media and society as a whole tends to label any dog with a large frame and a set of teeth as a Pit Bull. Truth is, many wouldn't know a Pit if it licked them in the face!

Again, the media refuses to report anything good on these lovable animals and have given society the idea that these animals are monsters and should be banned from society. One reason that I know the affects of the media is because I was one of them at one time.

I had heard all the horror stories and misconstrued facts about how their jaws locked and fighting was "in their blood" and all the other labels that have been put on these animals. The fact is that fighting is no more in their blood than in yours or mine. If they had it in their blood, there would not be so many of them tortured to death because they wouldn't fight....duh!

These animals are aggressive when they are pushed into aggressiveness just as any other animal or even humans, for that matter. They only know what they are taught and if they are taught love and loyalty, that is what they will give. When the media reports of a Pit Bull attack (even in the few cases that they are actually pits), they only tell one side of the story. They don't tell how the animal was provoked or hurt or frightened into the attack.

Even if the attack is provoked to protect their owner or family member, they are labeled as monsters. The truth is that if it were any other breed of dog that attacked to protect someone, they are labeled as heroes. I just can't understand this.

I have a Pit living in my house that was raised on a bottle, I have a Pug (also a bulldog breed) living in the same house. I have a Pit that lives outside and I also have grandchildren that all of these animals would die to protect from harm. Yes, I was once one of the brainwashed haters of this breed until I came in contact with these and decided to do some research with an open mind and decide for myself how vicious they are.

If these people could meet Rambo (the inside Pit), they would have to laugh at the "monster" label they have put on him. He is the biggest wimp I have ever seen in any dog breed and loves anyone who has a kind touch for him. He has never bitten anyone, he has never hurt another animal and I know that as long as he is with me, nothing will harm me. Same goes for Mya, his mother outside.

At the end of this article, you will find some links to some excellent hubs written by Whitney05 that are wonderful sources of information on the subject of APBT and how to effectively socialize and train these wonderful, loving animals. Just imagine what would happen if any dog capable of biting were to be banned. Could you stand to lose your pet just because someone decided that it "MAY" attack someone? If you will read Whitney's articles with an open mind, you will see why this BSL to ban Pit Bulls is rediculous!

Another subject near and dear to my heart. This is probably one of the most misunderstood business models ever created. It is so sad that people refuse to look at facts, rather than to listen to others who have an axe to grind with a certain industry.

That said, the first thing that I would like to clear up is the fact that MLM has absolutely nothing to do with Pyramid Schemes. This is more "assumed" information and very wrong, I might add. Pyramids are illegal and MLM is not. That is not my opinion, that is fact, according to the Federal Government.

A pyramid is an illegal business that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. Sometimes there may be the appearance of a product, but it's only there to make the pyramid look like a real business. Few people outside of the pyramid desire the product.

MLM is a legitimate company that offers a product that can better someone's life and offers a retail profit to the distributors for selling that product to others. They also offer commissions for recruiting distributors much like many companies pay others for referrals to their company or products. This can generate what is called residual income, which will increase as more members join your team and sell more products.

Many people think that just because the company owner makes the most money, it is a scam. This is not true! Otherwise, there is a good chance that the owner of the company you work for could be shut down for running a scam operation. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that the owner of any company is going to make the biggest profits. Otherwise, who the heck would want to own a company?

Sometimes uninformed people think that if a company pays "multiple levels" then it's an illegal pyramid. This is false. Many franchise companies pay multiple levels. In typical sales organizations, managers get a percentage of what the sales reps sell. This is multi-level marketing, whether it's called that or not. The fact that an organization pays on multiple levels does not make it an illegal pyramid scheme.

Multiple levels of marketing are actually what all companies desire (both MLM and non MLM companies). If you've ever heard a traditional company announce, "Refer a friend and you'll receive a discount on your next purchase," this is multi-level marketing. Health clubs, real estate, telecommunications, and countless other industries use this technique. Professionals (doctors, dentists, accountants) live or die based on their customers telling others about them. All these businesses are simply trying to get current customers to advertise and market their product or service to potential customers.

Many people want to harp on the high failure rate of people who join an MLM company. What they don't tell you, however, is the overall failure rate of people who do anything in life.

For example, what is the failure rate on dieting, college, high school and other educational opportunities that are began by people in society.What about people who quit jobs, training for olympics or other professional sports before reaching their goals? According to the National Association of Real Estate, over 80% of people who get their real estate license quit in their first year - most never sell one home. Yet none of these failures are ever quoted when anyone is criticizing the MLM industry.

If a person fails, it's because they failed, not the industry!

MLM companies pay for production, not for coming to work. The word production means "something produced." If a non-MLM company hires a sales representative to sell their products, they normally pay the sales rep a salary plus commission on the sales of the products sold. They do this prior to knowing if the sales rep will sell anything at all. If the sales rep never sells anything, their salary is a wasted expense. In multi-level marketing, the company ONLY pays a commission when a product is actually sold. That's paying for production instead of paying people to come to work whether they produce a sale or not. If you're the type of person who seeks ways to hide from producing, you'll hate MLM if you continue that same non-productive activity.

Well, a wise man and business owner (my Daddy) always told me that if I ever wanted something in life to listen to someone who had achieved it because anyone who had tried and failed wouldn't want me to succeed at it. Makes a lot of sense to me and that is what I have always done.

There are many, many people in the MLM industry that have become successful and will gladly share advice with you that will help you be successful as well. But only if you are willing to follow their advice and reach for your dreams.

Keep in mind that on every subject there are more people that fail at it than people who succeed, so you may find much more negative information about your subject than positive information.

Do not take advice from authors who have failed at what they write (or talk)about - they are resentful and do not want you to succeed where they failed. Others' success only proves their inadequacy. They may claim that they "only want to protect you," but in reality, they only want to protect themselves from a sense of failure by preventing you from trying and succeeding.

It isn't hard to find people who have been successful in MLM. Fact is, you probably know about a lot more MLM businesses than you think.

Network Marketing is a $100 billion dollar industry worldwide and is one of the fastest growing trends in home based business. More than 10 million people in the US are involved in a Network Marketing business. It allows anyone, from any background or education to create a significant income in a business of one's own.

Many Network Marketing Companies are Fortune 500 companies, traded publicly on the Stock Exchanges and many are held privately. Mary Kay Cosmetics; Tupperware; Jafra Cosmetics and Avon are just a few well known and well respected companies using a network marketing / direct sales business model.

Network Marketing has been written about favorably by major publications such as Forbes, Fortune, Success, Fast Company, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

So I guess the most important question is if MLM were an illegal pyramid scheme, would these companies be endorsing this industry? I think NOT. And I don't think Donald Trump would either. He may not run an MLM business but he has enough business sense to know that the concept is remarkable!

All three of these subjects are very passionate subjects for me. Mostly because I have personal experience with them all. When I believe in something, I believe it with all of my being. I do the best that I can to share information with those who are not familiar with these subjects but who are truly interested in learning about them. If it were up to the media and most of society, I believe trucking, pit bulls and MLM would have all been banned by now. If only they would rather report the real fact instead of going for the drama in any situation, maybe the public would be better informed. When you are reading negative things about any subject, please bare in mind what James Thurber said: "There are two kinds of light.....the glow that illuminates....and the glare that obscures."