How?
It’s the word that rings through my head occasionally since retiring in July of 2024 and it always sparks a thread of wonder going back thirty years, three decades…
Back to a time when cell phones came in bags, the Pentium processor was king and the WWW was introduced. Really?? My career started at Komatsu just as 300 baud modems to CompuServe so you could reach Yahoo and search for Doom became a thing. Thankfully I had plenty of mix tapes for my Walkman to keep the tunes rolling while each byte slowly crawled through the phone lines.
But how?
How did the time pass so quickly?
All the crazy work adventures traveling around the world could never have fit into so few years could they? I was warned that Komatsu years were like dog years, each one crammed with 7 times more activity than most people experience. I never realized I was having so much fun until it was quiet. Why was it quiet?
The people were gone
It was my Komatsu friends and customers that filled those adventures with memories. Every moment would be empty if not for the extraordinary talent, camaraderie , and sacrifice of the people around me that carried the day.
I never served in the military like my Father, but I have some sense of the individual selflessness wrought from dedicating yourself to principles higher than your own well being on the behalf of those around you. Arriving late at night, waking before dawn, driving through the mists of Africa for a day of sweltering sun and troubleshooting giant iron beasts will always be a hard fought day. No more than the peaks of the Andes, the tundra of the arctic circle, or the sweltering heat of the Pilbara. Side by side with someone smarter and better than I, on behalf of people who desperately needed our assistance. Amazing mining people in truly remarkable circumstances.
Truly, it is this honorable duty of a higher calling that drives us through the best days and years of our lives in service to others.
I can’t imagine a better way to spend my time, or people with whom I could spend it.