Houston, I love you.

My Houston journey began on June 10, 1990. Just a few days before my arrival in Houston, I graduated from LSU with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The truth is, I was more of a blank slate than a real engineer. I drove from my home in Louisiana down I-10 to Houston one warm summer morning. I didn’t know what to expect and I wasn’t wise or smart enough to even think about expectations. All I knew as that I had my first real job as an engineer working in a chemical plant in Pasadena, TX (which is as much a part of Houston as the many other satellite communities around our great city).

The next morning, I began my career. I showed up at 6 am because I didn’t know when to start and I didn’t want to be late to work on my first day. After the usual HR stuff, I sat down with my boss, Ed Gayle and he gave me a few assignments…none of which I knew how to do. He told me to go figure it out. As it turned out, these were easy assignments and I got them wrapped up in a few hours. At the end of my first day, I went back to Ed’s office and sat down. I told him I was done and asked him what to do next. Ed leaned back in his chair and thought for a minute. I wondered if I’d screwed up somehow. He then leaned forward and said to me in a quiet but firm voice, “Listen to me, Mush….in school, they give you all the problems and you have to come up with the answers…in the real world, you have to figure out the problems and that is harder than finding the solutions”. He continued, “Mush, don’t come back into my office and ask me what do next ever again because that’s your responsibility, and no one is going to stop you from discovering the right problems to solve.”.  

I sat there staring at him as his simple and powerful lesson made its way into my head. The light turned on then and there and I knew I’d found the right place. The right company and in the right place on this planet. A clear, unhindered path is all I needed. It was probably more than I had earned but that is what this place, this city gave to me.

Over the next few years, I remembered that lesson and I never went back to boss to ask him what to do next. I never asked any boss that question ever again. All I saw was a clear road ahead of me and I pressed my foot on the gas as hard as I could. As time has gone by, I’ve learned the value of a steering wheel to stop me from running off the road and hitting a tree. But I still press the pedal hard because this city lets me. No one stops me or I’m too oblivious to tell if they are. I’ve made my share of mistakes but I’ve recovered from them and probably have become stronger because of them. There have been hardships but they’ve tempered me. All the while, the people of my great city have been there to help me.

In one of my more spectacular mistakes, I cost my company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Maybe a lot more than that. I was in my mid-twenties and I was more cocky than wise. It cost me and my employer. I remember sitting at my desk completely defeated. The plant manager at the time came into my office. His name was Doug Mathera and a man of few words. So, when he spoke, you listened. He looked at me with his sharp, piercing eyes. He only ever called me by my last name. He said, “Khan, how’s it going?” I told him what had happened and how sorry I was. He said he’d heard (of course he’d heard of one of his baby engineers costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars!). He looked at me, spat into his spit cup and said “I’d buy Khan stock”. He turned and left. 

My eyes filled with tears and I immediately felt a rush of confidence. His words echoed in my heart and mind that evening. “I’d buy Khan stock”. Those words still fill my heart in my quiet moments and when I am feeling down. “I’d buy Khan stock”. 

His message was as much from him as it was from my city: "…we believe in you…we are buying Khan stock…we are buying Garcia stock…we are buying Smith stock….we are buying Johnson stock…"

There is something magical about this city. I still can’t put my finger on it. It’s a rhythm and a melody that flows through everyone I meet here. It’s the thing that has created a globally prominent city in less than 200 years. It’s the thing that gives us a “can do” attitude and a willingness to help. A willingness to love.

This has been no more evident than the events during and after Harvey. I couldn’t help but be amazed (and not surprised) as the images of people helping people without any thought of color, origin, economic status or any other factor. It was Houston at its best. It was an outpouring of love Houston uniquely delivers. I watched an interview from a kind man who had driven all the way from Kentucky to help us with his boat. He’d immediately become busy helping stranded people by rescuing them from their flood ravaged homes. He told the story of how some people pulled him aside and had some food for him to eat (he’d come down without even thinking about where he would stay or how he’d eat!). As he described this moment, he got emotional and he said he couldn’t believe complete strangers would be willing to feed him. He said, “I’ve never felt this kind of love before…”. I watched in simple amazement that this man who’d selflessly given to us, was telling us that he’d never felt loved like this. That is what Houston does. And while we have our problems like any other community, we do love…hard.

This morning, I reflected on my journey and on recent events. I’ve been given so much more than I can return to my city. But I’ll offer these words:

Houston, you’ve got a clear road ahead of you….I’d buy Houston stock….and…I love you.