Article February 3, 1973 Issue

"This is a hard hat job"

That's the sign we see posted at most building sites these days. It's precautionary, a warning to steer clear of the construction area unless you're wearing protective headgear.

Ed Thomson of Hartford, Connecticut, wears the hard hat of a civil engineer. A rugged former Air Force flyer, he grew up in the construction business. His father was a building contractor for forty years, and he can still recall a summer job he had cleaning brick for fifty cents a thousand. Ed bulldogged his way up the ladder, working days and going to school nights to get a college degree. As a laborer, welder, shop foreman, union steward, safety engineer, expeditor, and planning and project engineer, he's worked in many parts of the world. His specialties are dry docks, missile sites, airfields, any type of military installation. He spent two years in the Arctic, six in Vietnam. And he has a keen working understanding of what job safety is all about.

I make it a point of beginning each day with the "Daily Prayer"^{ See Manual of The Mother Church, Art. VIII, Sect. 4;} by Mrs. Eddy and the Lesson-Sermon^{ in the Christian Science Quarterly;} for the week. Some people might have trouble picturing a "hard hat" beginning the day this way. But aside from his tough skin and maybe a little more muscle, the guy on the construction site isn't all that different from anybody else. And, of course, the truths and "ammunition" in the lesson can apply to work of any kind. I have found, over the years, that prayerful study in the morning, before beginning work, makes one more alert, more in tune with the one Mind. Everything just goes a whole lot better.