Houston downpour turns into OTC twist of fate

Sitting in Houston’s 5:00 pm traffic in a torrential downpour, through the bus window I noticed a man carrying a piece of cardboard to cover himself. His goal seemed to be to find temporary shelter from the furious rainstorm under the manic Houston highway system.

My heart melted as I wondered who he was.

Who was his family?
Did he have food?
Was he mentally unwell?
What happened to him?

I never found out because he may as well have been on the moon and me on the bus headed in the opposite direction.

The whole scene struck me, and I was hit in the heart with the question, are we doing enough?

ARE WE DOING ENOUGH?

I was restless on the Bus. The rain kept pelting down, and I was a ways away from my hotel. Rather than wait on the traffic and pelting rain to clear, which could have been another hour, I decided to get off at the very first stop and take shelter there. It was the Hotel Derek by the Houston Galleria area, and it was the perfect place of refuge from the manic weather conditions.

A bunch of other people had the same idea. We all piled into the hotel and saddled up to the bar for a drink and some grub. We got to know each other grumbling about the bus and how we weren’t going to stay on it for another minute, let alone another hour!

As serendipity would have it, God if you will, I was fortunate enough to sit next to two great guys from Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, who had also been at the Offshore Technology Conference that as I was attending.

Cambria County Association for the Blind and Handicapped (CCABH)

The coincidence of our meeting was the instant answer to my question, are we doing enough?  Well, these guys are.

Exhibiting at the Offshore Technology Conference, Chris Oldham and Paul Martin sell oil and gas supplies to industry and in doing so their organization, in turn, supports services to more than 500 persons with disabilities. Wow!

Working for the Cambria County Association for the Blind and Handicapped (CCABH) these guys get to work in a culture that supports the vision, rehabilitation, and employment services to persons with disabilities living in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. At the same time, they manufacture a wide variety of high-quality hooks, hangers, and innovative CAB products for oil and gas customers worldwide. These are the true heroes of our time!

It’s perfect. The supply base for the oil and gas industry is one of the largest in the world. Creating companies and organizations that support inclusion, diversity, people with special abilities, and those with disadvantages, is just about as perfect as it gets.

I thought about all the purchasing that happens in the oil and gas industry worldwide, and I imagined a world where companies got preference on bids if they supported the less fortunate. I wondered would this model eliminate the epidemic of homelessness in North America and could it help the man who stole my heart under the bridge an hour ago.

We can all learn from CAB products. We can all do good and be an incredible contribution to our people in creative ways. I’m inspired to follow suit!

A huge downpour turned into a twist of fate. Was our meeting coincidence or perfect timing? I’m not sure but my father passed away four years ago, and one of his great sayings was, “this is all a part of life’s rich pattern.” I have it tattoed on my arm now. Thanks, CAB, I think I know a little bit better now, what my dad meant.

To learn more about CAB visit them at www.cabproducts.com

SOURCE AND IMAGES: CAB