Author Noel Proulx
On my sixteenth birthday, I entered the work force while still attending High School. By the time I reached grade 12, I had two part-time jobs, and one full-time job working nights and weekends. This was the beginning of becoming a responsible individual, the enslavement to the conditioning of workaholism.
My career as a welder followed being a cook, a manager of a submarine sandwich shop, a butcher, a union labourer, and a security guard. I worked 13 years as a welder in numerous shops and industries learning many welding and cutting techniques and developing my skills. My 31 year welding career with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers followed.
During my welding career, I had been exposed to many traumatic events such as explosions, fires, and various physical injuries to others and myself. I consider myself to be one of the fortunate tradesmen who retired without needing to deal with serious physical impairment or psychological damages. Because of the relentless exposure to so many traumatic events throughout my
career, I would tell co-workers: “If you do not want to be exposed to a traumatic event, quit this shut-down and get onto another job, one that I am not working at”, which I would always follow up with an outburst of laughter. I have also developed a welding nozzle for a welding procedure that was thought impossible by three welding inspectors. I proved to them that nothing is impossible. Because no other welder could develop the ability to use this toy, I became part of the Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW/MIG) procedure. I am the only person allowed to use this MIG nozzle according to the Welding Procedure Specification (WPS) with the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB). I have always been a meticulous and conscientious worker. I can now explain what insanity is. Insanity is welding 44 years while always trying to make the next weld at a higher quality than the previous one. I was considered as one of the best welders because I had never had a weld that failed an ex-ray test. I am only aware of one other boilermaker who completed a 45 year career without any repair as well. He told me that I was more skilled than he was. The fact is that no one is the best at anything. There is always someone with a little more knowledge and better developed abilities at something, somewhere. I remember learning a different welding technique from a good person, a Chilian, the very last year of my welding career. Living is a never-ending story of learning. Presently, since my retirement of my welding career, I have embarked in helping people help themselves to heal their physical, mental, and emotional detriments. My next and last 25 years of this lifetime will be donated to empowering people to be all they can be. Three cheers to the best of what is to come! Favorite Quote: A master of anything is simply a great teacher who can help a student become a master, whereas the master eventually learns something from the student. Thus, roles are reversed! The student becomes the master, and the master, the student. This is proof that we are all equal; we are all students!