One Week In

It's been a good three weeks since my last post, but I've been busy--driving across the country during the week of Thanksgiving (and my 23rd birthday), relocating in Arizona and starting a new job as a solar installer. I am officially one week in, and I've been busy as hell.

The days are long and the work is tough but I am loving it so far. The pace is decent and the crew leads and other workers at the company are great guys. My lack of construction experience has been somewhat of a tell, but I am learning fast and will turn it around inside of a few weeks (I've already learned more than I ever thought I'd care to know about construction). But you can't blend in immediately or hide the lack of experience--the second day on the job my crew lead asked me if I had used power tools much before...

But all this week I logged a lot of tool hours. Truth is I hadn't much and it's a lot to wrap you're head around regarding impact guns, sawzalls, lineman's pliers, etc etc. But I learn fast, and I have something to prove.

THIS COMPANY IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT I SEEK TO PROVE--

These guys are from all over the country. Many are not even progressive or even remotely liberal-- my supervisor listens to Limbaugh, watches Fox News, yet works as an installer. He has worked the last 35 years as a framer and moved all across the nation, yet spent the last 16-17 years in Arizona during the construction boom there. But then it slowed, and he was out of work. He said that he had even just started his own company before the bottom fell out...And as he said, usually when the construction industry was down somewhere it was booming somewhere else, but now there is nowhere left to go...

But he knows construction and knows wiring and he has learned all about solar installation. He has worked for Allwest for 7-8 months now, and is working essentially a Green Collar Job, and making decent money I'm sure.

This is what I want to share, the story I want to tell. Hell, I'm writing a book I think--I have mentally committed myself to do so. Our country can fill a void created by the wedge of American partisanship and unite as a nation for the first time in decades. Just as in this company a forty-something year old conservative can be willing to work with a 23 year old from Boston that has little construction experience, and be civil, friendly and willing to train and educate me regarding the industry, so too can this country come together and create countless jobs, industries and markets for businesses and practices that are good for not only ourselves, but also our environment and the world as a whole.

Here is a picture of the first install I worked on in Fountain Hills, Arizona:



So there is nowhere left to go, as Mike said--we have been everywhere and built everywhere. So what is next, then?---we must recreate our infrastructure, what we have built, make it more efficient and perfect it and gain knowledge, good work, and a renewed sense of confidence in the process. Essentially build on top of what we have, if there is no where left to sprawl. Its basically America's manifest destiny on the next plane, we have conquered the continent from coast to coast but know we must harness the power of the sun and look to the stars. And in doing this, in creating a Green, clean energy economy we can heal a nation that has lost itself among the divisiveness that has defined America, in reality, since the Vietnam War or even post WWII.