By Greg Kozera, Shale Crescent USA
Over Christmas I think we saw the classic movie A Christmas Story three times. It was playing in the background Christmas Day. I can relate to the entire movie. Except growing up we had a natural gas and not a coal furnace. Dad was a master at changing fuses in the basement after we overloaded a circuit and our lights went out. He bought fuses by the box. We had one bathroom for our entire family of 8 people. I remember the big snowsuits, snowball fights, the store windows decorated for Christmas and going to see Santa Claus.
We had bullies like in the movie. Mine was a 6th grader called “Tex.” I was in 4th grade. Like the movie, Tex pushed me to my limit in front of other 4th and 5th graders after school one day. I remember punching him in the nose. It must have surprised him. He fell on his butt, nose bleeding. I ran off in fear expecting him to come after me. Next day at school no one, including Tex, said anything about the incident. Tex never bothered me again. There are still bullies today. I have been approached by people “offended” by the truth who tried to bully me into silence. I never apologize for telling the truth.
Growing up my parents stressed the importance of always telling the truth. Looking back, I can’t recall ever being lied toby them. Except about the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy. Sometimes there were truths we weren’t mature enough to handle at the time. Our parents told us as much truth as we could understand and added, “We will tell you more when you are older.” Dad always told us, “If you disobey us or do something wrong you will be punished. If you lie about it and I find out, the punishment will be twice as bad.”
We grew up with a respect for the truth. Growing up in the 60s and 70s our news came from radio, newspapers and three TV stations one for each of the major networks. CBS, NBC and ABC. CNN didn’t exist. Dad watched Walter Cronkite who did the CBS evening news at 6:30 every evening. If Walter Cronkite said something we knew it was true. Walter Cronkite reported the news without indicating any political preferences.
I’m blessed with friends across the political spectrum. No matter their politics they are saying the same thing. They want truth and they’re not getting it from the mainstream media. People are searching for truth. Information on the internet can’t be trusted. I subscribe to local papers and watch local news on TV because for the most part they still do reporting and tell stories as accurately as they can.
On Reality TV, people can win games and a lot of money by lying and deceiving other players in reality games and call it gamesmanship. Many celebrities or politicians are much different people than what we see on TV or in their on-line persona.
As an adjunct professor, I told my students the story of taking my car to a dealership for State Inspection. The mechanic toldme my car wouldn’t pass inspection because it needed brakes and struts at a cost of $1800. I got a second opinion from the mechanic who does my oil changes. He said my brakes and struts they were fine. Two of my students were laughing. They explained, “We both worked as mechanics at car dealerships before coming to school here. We were taught if we couldn’t find at least $2,000 in repairs on any car, we weren’t doing our job.
The truth always comes out especially in todays world of cell phone videos, social media and cameras everywhere. The truth starts with us. If we expect truth from others we must first be truthful to them. Dishonesty must always be unacceptable.
We can make mistakes that are embarrassing to admit. Better to tell the truth and get the unpleasantness over with then to tell a lie and ultimately have to deal with the embarrassment of the mistake and lying about it. Sometimes as a manager, I made a bad decision. The easiest thing to do was admit it and move on. The truth is our friend because it doesn’t change. It is easier to tell the truth than to try to keep a story straight. Today at Shale Crescent USA we work with hundreds of people. We do newspaper and TV interviews. Routinely we present at conferences. Telling the truth reduces stress. There are no secrets we need to worry about being discovered.
Every true scientist knows there is no such thing as settled science. What we believe to be true today can change as we learn more or as new data becomes available. One of the most dangerous things we can do is to mix politics and science.Worse is intimidating scientists into silence. In 1903 Orville Wright said, “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope to advance.” In the work SCUSA does, when new information becomes available we make our prospects and the public aware. What we understand about energy is constantly evolving. Platts Energy recognized Shale Crescent USA’s unique approach to energy transition this month in New York City.
Let’s make 2025 a year of truth. We start by being truthful all the time, not just when convenient, especially with those we love. We need to be a positive example for others. We can demand truth from others. I avoid people who lie to me especially mechanics and those in the mainstream media since I can’t trust what they report. I don’t do business with people I can’t trust. We can make better decisions if the are based on truth and the best available information. Thou shall not bear false witness is one of the 10 commandments of God for a reason. Thoughts to ponder.
