(Cracking the Code with Greg Kozera - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Our high school soccer team is in Beckley this week playing in the West Virginia State Soccer Tournament. This is a challenging season with only three senior starters, a young inexperienced squad and a rough start with only one win and three ties in the first eight games. One loss was to a rival who hadn’t beaten us in almost 20 years.

Our young men learned from adversity, gained experience and grew together as a team. They continued to believe in the coaches, their teammates and themselves. Daily training helped to develop the captains into strong leaders. By season’s end, Joe, the head coach, had developed them into a unified team who easily won the section championship. They won the region championship in overtime. We were scheduled to play Saturday for the state championship.

My family and friends are happy the election is over. They are tired of endless political commercials and phone calls. This was a very emotional election. The winners and their supporters celebrate. The losers and their supporters are depressed and apprehensive about the future. I was concerned about what the foreign prospects Shale Crescent USA is working with thought about the U.S. presidential election. Most foreign prospects were waiting to see U.S. election results before making a final decision to expand to the U.S.

The evening before the election results, I sent this message to foreign companies SCUSA is working with: “As I write this, the election isn’t settled. In the last four years we have seen a lot of growth in the Shale Crescent USA region not because of policy in Washington, D.C. It happened in spite of it. One truth successful business people learn in the U.S. is how to work with whoever is elected. Most of the government officials who know how to run things don’t change. I learned not to believe most of the political ads and media hype. Some change is inevitable. We know there is always opportunity no matter who is elected. We always need to adapt.” We received positive comments of appreciation. Companies from Pakistan, Turkey, Japan and India are planning visits.

Lynnda saw a lot of nasty social media comments between people about the election and what it means to our future. The U.S. has many problems like the economy, inflation, energy, immigration and the environment to name a few. No group, industry or government can solve them effectively alone. Like our high school soccer team, as Americans we are all on the same team or should be. It is time to put election differences aside and work together for the benefit of all Americans, especially for our children and grandchildren.

This summer I wrote about Lynnda’s and my experience at the National Speakers Association’s annual summer meeting in Denver. For five days, we didn’t hear anything about anyone’s politics. NSA is a diverse group of professional men and women of all ages, religions, national origins, races and skin tones. The focus is on everyone helping each other to build better businesses and be better speakers. Cavett Robert founded NSA on the premise to not fight over the pie but to build a bigger pie so everyone can have a piece. Washington politicians can do the same if they choose. It’s called working for the common good. NSA fosters a culture of mutual respect. It works.

Americans are strong when united. The only way American democracy can be defeated is if we allow ourselves to be divided. People are complex but not that different. They want peace, happiness, safety, a job and to provide for their family. Inflation hurts their ability to provide. It wasn’t surprising when Pennsylvania voted for Trump. According to a recent Commonwealth Foundation Poll, “a staggering 78% of Pennsylvania voters say energy affordability is an important consideration when choosing a candidate for elected office.” More than three-fourths, (77%) of voters said their household energy bills have increased. An overwhelming majority (over 60%) support more natural gas drilling, increased infrastructure and fracking. There were 86% who said they want the U.S. to be energy independent.

Lynnda likes to watch “the FBIs” on CBS. On “FBI Most Wanted,” a couple of weeks before the election, two environmental activists killed a truck driver and stole a truck containing carbon dioxide supposedly for carbon sequestration in Pennsylvania Marcellus wells. (Not happening, but could help the environment according to the University of Virginia.) The star FBI agent made blatantly false remarks about fracking, groundwater contamination in Pennsylvania and the “evils” of carbon sequestration, disregarding basic engineering principles.

The activists were going to use the carbon dioxide to create an explosion. Sounds scary, except carbon dioxide isn’t explosive. It carbonates the soda we drink like Coke or Pepsi. The activists abandoned the truck and built a small fire under a large (nonexistent) carbon dioxide surface pipeline. The fire was to create a pipeline explosion. The star FBI agent said, “The fire will cause a massive explosion throughout the county, killing thousands.”

If the fire could increase pressure in the pipe, at worst, it would only rupture at that point, not create a massive explosion. Is this a harmless fictional story from a clueless writer or an attempt to scare people about oil and gas development in places like Pennsylvania two weeks before an election? They could have used highly explosive hydrogen in the story instead of carbon dioxide. However, hydrogen is being proposed as a “clean” replacement for natural gas. I won’t be watching the FBIs. I think it’s wrong for a public media organization like CBS to use lies to influence voters. I choose to reject those I can’t trust.

The election is over. Now the hard work starts for everyone at the local, state and federal levels to come together for the good of all Americans. It’s time to put differences aside and work from common goals to make life better for all Americans. Like my high school soccer team or NSA, there isn’t a problem we can’t solve together. We are one nation under God!

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Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a Masters in Environmental Engineering and over 40 years experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker and author of four books and many published articles.