08/30/2026
This little red truck has been a part of my life since 1984❤️🚛
It was given to me by someone I loved deeply, someone I lost back in 2007
As a child, this toy meant the world to me. Optimus Prime was larger than life. He was strong, brave, compassionate and always willing to stand up for what was right
But as I got older, I began to understand why this particular character had always meant so much to me
Optimus reminded me of the man who gave him to me
My grandfather
He taught me that real strength wasn’t about being the toughest person in the room. It was about being kind to others. Having strength of character. Knowing your own value without diminishing someone else’s. Never getting ahead at the expense of another person. And understanding that being gentle and compassionate never made you weak
He was my gentle giant
With the passing of Peter Cullen, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the loss of my grandfather almost 20 years ago, and about how strangely connected those memories have always been
Peter didn’t simply give a voice to Optimus Prime
He gave him a soul
Through Peter’s performance, Optimus became the kind of hero a kid could look up to, not because he was the biggest or strongest, but because he believed in doing what was right, protecting others and leading with compassion
Maybe that is why hearing Optimus speak always felt so familiar to me
Behind that voice and behind that little red truck were the same qualities I saw in my grandfather
Thank you, Peter, for spending more than four decades giving life to a robot truck from the stars who, somehow, always reminded me of my own gentle giant
And thank you, Pow Pow 💥 , for giving a little boy this truck back in 1984
I still have him
And now, more than ever, I understand why I could never let him go ❤️
“Be strong enough to be gentle”
Till all are one 🕊️
