Do any of us know what it is about certain things that draw us in? Whether it be a person, event or an idea, what is it, particularly, that makes us act. I am not talking angrily, I mean in a positive way.
Why is it that the homeless guy at the stop light gets nothing while the another sitting outside the grocery store get a few bucks; the broken down car on the side of the highway gets hardly a glance while another makes us spin a U-turn and head back to assist or that one tragedy provokes an outpouring of grief and spurs a mass urge to volunteer while others fade away with the days of the week.
In our line of work, we know what we will be doing when the emergency strikes. Why, because it’s what we do (our adrenaline starts to pump, we are needed and we know that there is money to be made)! But, this discussion falls outside the boundaries of work; it deals with humanity, our nature.
I am not sure it can be easily explained but…there is…always something…that grabs us and causes a desire…a need…a want to be involved, to help.
Several years ago, I wrote an article for this magazine that talked about the need for our profession to support one another and to promote recognition of our craft. I am happy to say that there are groups and organizations out there that are dedicated to this. One needs only to read this quarterly, which for the past decade has and continues to support the trade(“for linemen by linemen”), to learn of organizations such as the National Association of Journey Linemen (NAJL) and the International Linemen’s Museum or log on to social media sites such as Facebook to realize that such groups exist.