You’ll Never Work Alone!

About thirty years ago, as a young innocent welder who had just finished his apprenticeship as a coppersmith and welder at Carl Canzler, I was rock-solid in my conviction that I work alone. Always all by myself. I was convinced that, after the electrode had melted, I had made a perfect weld.

But over the years and coming to terms with myself and my welding-work, I’ve learned that it’s not just me who never works entirely for myself, it’s no one. Never ever! Not even a welder, – with his welding shield folded down, protected from the outside world in the darkness surrounding him, melting the rod electrode that sparks in front of the tinted protective glass. Indeed, there were people who made an advance contribution and thus created the preconditions for me, the welder, to enable him to carry out his work.

For example, those colleagues where part of my welding, who manufactured, packed and shipped the stick electrode to the workplace where they needed. Also the manufacturers of the welding machine. Or to the person who grinds the weld geometry on the steel frame to be welded, which was rounded off by someone else, while another colleague quietly wrote the appropriate welding procedure specification. Not to mention the work done in advance by the English chemist, Sir Humphry Davy (1778–1829), who in 1800 discovered the short-pulse arc essential for manual arc welding, without which the welder, apparently working on his own, would not have been able to ignite his stick electrode. The Swede Oscar Kjellberg (1870–1931) also worked on the welding seam, which was in my imagination welded by ?me?. Because in 1907, he came up with the smart idea of providing the hitherto uncoated metal stick electrodes with a coating in order to improve the arc properties and protect the weld pool from oxidation by atmospheric oxygen. Or just consider all the steel workers who produced the steel to be welded by the welder to the quality required by the customer, who in turn placed the purchase order of the pressure vessel and thus contributed his share of the work so that the welder could weld. Who, by the way, did not burn himself or blind his eyes while welding. Thanks to the tailors and glaziers who sewed his welding suit and gauntlet leather gloves, tinted and cut the protective glass.

???? Today I know that all those and many-many other people contributed to my work as a welder at that time: To ?my? perfect weld seam. Beginning with my vocational training supervisor, who explained to me that I had clamped my very first rod electrode the wrong way around - with the coated end, in the welding pliers.

Therefore: ?You’ll Never Work Alone!? And therefore, it became the subtitle of the book of our society: ?Welding connects - You'll Never Work Alone?.

???? It’s worth reflecting on the profundity that comes with this in a quiet minute. Not just as a welder. After all, the synergy that comes with the job, applies to any job. To any worker. You'll Never Work Alone is a friendly reminder that nobody, never and nowhere in this world works alone. There are always people who have either made an advance contribution or who are there to support you and me and all of us in the actual work task.

This realization is accompanied by the overwhelmingly positive side effects that arise when you think about it : Humility. Gratitude. Connectedness.

Towards himself and his tiny but extremely valuable part of the work. Towards (working-)life and (working-)colleagues. Awareness of the work task carried out together and the sense of ?we? that automatically arises. Accompanied in perfection musically by the final anthem of the world-famous musical Carousel, whose premiere took place on April 19, 1945 at the Majestic Theater on Broadway. Or as the world-famous soccer-hymn, inspired by Gerry & The Pacemakers, first sung decades ago by the fan block The Kop at Anfield stadium of FC Liverpool. "You'll never walk alone". But, attention! – in slightly different wording. Not referring to walk, as in the original songtext, but to our work. Therefore, now and everyone, all together:

“When you work, through a storm

Hold your head up high,

And don’t be afraid of the dark (under the folded down welding helmet)

Work on, work on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never work alone

You’ll Never Work Alone!”

Wrote in Pelintung Indonesia, June 2021

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