IN WARM PRAISE OF OIL AND GAS PEOPLE...

 

WHEN I AWAKENED THIS MORNING IT WAS 26 DEGREES, WITH A "FEELS LIKE" OF 15°. THE HEAT AND LIGHTS WERE ON AT MY HOUSE.

I praised God, and one of my prayers of thanksgiving was for Oil & Gas people. I worked in that industry for more than 25 of my 48 working years, and I know whereof I speak. I can assure you that O & G people of all nationalities, cultures, colors, sexual orientations, and religious beliefs were not focused this last week on personal grievances or identity politics. I can virtually guarantee you that there were no Diversity, Equity and Inclusion meetings last week; the focus was on keeping oil and gas flowing so that people did not freeze their be-hinds off or die during this current cold streak.

Nobody had a Great Resignation mentality; O&G people went to work in the frigid cold, freezing rain and blowing snow. Field workers and plant operators braved bone-chilling winds. Office workers either made their way to the office or put in long hours at home.

America drastically needs the Oil and Gas industry, and not just so that we can benefit in thousands of ways from the products the industry delivers, most of them life-enhancing, and many of them life-saving. America needs the Oil and Gas industry because America needs Oil and Gas people. We need their faith, their loyalty, their work ethic, their care, their resilience, their tenacity and all their other qualities that keep the heat and lights on. But even more we need O&G people because they represent the American spirit, and I would contend that they do so more than people in any other industry.

As our greedy, selfish and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats sit in their comfortable offices and homes to plot and scheme the demise of America's greatest industry and America's greatest workers, we can only try to summon up some bit of forgiveness for them, for truly "they know not what they do."

Thank you, O&G people everywhere, that I am able to sit in my warm home office and that my internet is up so that I can sing your praises. Thank you, God, for the Oil and Gas industry, and more so for O&G people. Amen.