There are so many people to thank who support us with the necessities of life

Ok, I had planned all weekend to write a column about the brave souls who go to bat for us in critical times like the ice storms last week that knocked power out in some places. Then I open this page on my computer and Mark White had already written a column about this subject.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

Nevertheless, these are my thoughts. These people who work long hours in bitter cold with snow coming down are real heroes. I can’t imagine what it would be like to do that kind of work.

And how about the workers who have to dig a hole when a water line bursts and wade in the mud when it is ice cold.

Going a step further, in the summer when you need a new roof and the temperature is a 100 degrees and workers are on roofs where the temperature is much hotter.

Thank goodness there are people with the skills necessary to do this kind of work that affects our lives for the better and I could list many others.

Before I got into the radio and newspaper field I found out how tough some of this kind of labor can be. After graduating from high school I worked as a common laborer on the new Interstate system that was being developed across our country.

I did this each summer for four years to pay my way through college. All of the projects I worked on were in Ohio.

There were days that I would come in from work and hit the couch and not move until the next morning because I was so tired.

I had a variety of jobs that included pouring concrete, placing rebar, digging holes for fences which most of the time I spent on the long end of a shovel.

Actually I enjoyed the work but I had dreamed of being a sports announcer from the age of 10 and I was doing this to fulfill my goal.

I believe you should enjoy your work and being in radio and journalism has been a joy for me. The years I spent in radio didn’t seem like a job except when I had a three or four hour shift as a DJ. I had to constantly look at the clock to give the time after each record played and sometimes it seemed the clock was stuck making the hours go by slowly.

But when the shift was over I left the job worry free. That hasn’t been the case when I got into management. The mental aspect of a job can be as tough as the physical.

It was never tougher than when we started this newspaper 34 years ago. I could never get away from my responsibilities.

Many times back then when we would work 18 to 20 hours straight on publishing day I would go home so mentally and physically exhausted that I couldn’t sleep for a couple of days.

With improvements in computer technology and the acceptance in this community for our newspaper the joy of doing the job returned.

It would have been great if all of us had the skills to bounce a ball or throw a football and make millions, but we don’t.

If I had the choice I would have made a living in the field of music. Being a singer or playing in an orchestra would have been great. Bill Gaither here I come if I had the voice.

But this pales in comparison to the people who labor to make the necessities of life available. The doctors and nurses, the teachers who prepare the students, the trash collectors, the stock person at the grocery, the people who loan you money to buy a house or car and the ones who help you earn by saving your money.

The list is huge when we look at the variety of people who serve us and especially those who climb those poles to keep the power on. You are life savers. Thank You!.