MACON, Ga. — A lot of us can be drivers, but only a few of us can be truckers.
"I wouldn't say it's easy," Sharoko Farley said behind the wheel of his 18-wheeler. "People say all the time, trucking is not for the weak."
People also say, "Truckers run America."
"You can always put freight on an airplane, you can put freight on a ship, you can put freight on anything-- but how you gon' get it to Walmart?" Farley said. "I've never seen an airplane pull up at Walmart, I've never seen a train pull up at Walmart. It's always a truck."
For Farley, it's always been about chasing down his childhood dream.
"I remember being at my grandma's house just standing outside the road, and I'm out there like every child, taking your hands and trying to make the big trucks blow their horns as they come by," he said. "That fascinated me!"
The Milledgeville native grew up in Eatonton. Farley said he remembers seeing his cousins and great-uncles trucking; he thought it would be fun to drive around the country and travel for a living.
But, life's roadblocks got in Farley's way before he was even on this Earth.
"I was born to a single mom, who was a junior in high school," Farley said. "We were forced to leave home because of religious beliefs due to teenage pregnancy."
Instead of pursuing his trucking dream, Farley said his life took some wrong turns growing up.
"That's when I was faced with many habits, such as drugs, alcohol and sex," Farley said.
Then, everything changed in an instant.
"One Christmas Eve, on the way home from a Christmas party, my car hydroplaned and I was caught in a real bad rainstorm," Farley said. "I was thrown into an embankment where I crushed both ankles, both legs, I broke my wrist, I bruised all ribs, and I bit my tongue in half, and I landed in a hospital bed, told I would never walk again for 8 months."
At that point, Farley says he remembers not knowing what to do and was questioning his life's purpose.
"The only thing I knew was that when my kids walked into that hospital room, and they was looking at me, I realized I had become a man I did not want to be. I realized I had become a man, that if I had died in that car accident, then my kids would not have anything good to say about me," Farley said.
He made a vow that day.
"So, I made a promise to God and a promise to myself: If I could be raised up, if I could regain activities of my limbs, then I will find my true purpose," he said.
Not only did Farley keep his promise, he became an exceptional role model.
After recovering, Farley studied commercial trucking in Sandersville at Oconee Fall Line Technical College in 2001. He started working and began his own company.
"I started S&A Express, because when I got to Oconee Fall Line, those instructors told me they see better in me, they see greatness in me, they see business in me," Farley said. "Just out of them speaking those words, I believed them and pursued."
Since 2017, he's influenced his students as a Commercial Driving Instructor at Central Georgia Technical College.
His students call him "Rocko."
In May, the state technical college system awarded Farley as Georgia's Technical Instructor of 2024.
"I saw people who reminded me of myself, just that little boy who was lost and just needed somebody to be a guiding light to him," he said. "So, I remain at a technical college system today because my mess has turned into a message."