If you have faith, no explanation is necessary. If you do not have faith, no explanation is possible.

I burn in the sun every day on the roofs of office buildings because my company's customers require it. I don't ever recall seeing any elite types up there with me or the other techs I work with. They weren't with me or any of the roughnecks I worked with when I was in the oil patch. That fact alone makes a tough, dirty job much easier to take!

As I look back on my public school education through the eyes of an aware adult I can see that starting in junior high on through high school, many of my "educators" were in fact, leftists for the most part that tried their damnedest to infuse me with white guilt. But being the son of a perpetually incarcerated convict and growing up in a 90% black/brown neighborhood in a house that cost about $8,000.00 made me realize I didn't have much to feel guilty about on that score. Yeah the house was crappy and in a crappy place but mom did her best and we were damned glad to have it. Of course all of my teachers lived in the comfortably middle class part of town so they could afford to feel guilty.

I was headed down the same path as my old man. Then one day over at my cousin's house a very big, very mean looking older man walked up to me and asked me "Boy, do you want to work?". He had a pair of steel-gray eyes that froze me in place and I said "Yes, sir!". He said "Have your ass out in front of my house tomorrow morning at four AM sharp. Bring a big lunch, a change of clothes, a hard hat, a set of steel toed boots and some gloves. I'll put you to work.". His name was John Pershing Ledbetter, he was a driller from Oklahoma, he was as mean as he looked and I thank God that he took a chance on me. He was very much a father to me and he gave me the means get out of a bad place. I don't think I shall ever know another one like him. I owe him more than I can ever repay.