Why I go……
Wow! I attended the alumni event in Cushing last week and I remember why I LOVELeadership Oklahoma! I know exactly why I attend events and pay my dues. It is a great deal – a bargain- and I would not miss it for the world!
Forty-eight people went to Cushing, America’s energy hub, to see and learn about storing and transporting oil. Why Cushing? Why is there controversy about the Keystone pipeline? What are the issues and who are the concerned, competing players? We came knowing a little and left knowing a lot. As always at LOK events, if only one side was presented, someone in the room intervened with a question or a statement of the opposing view. Remember that from your class? The presenters were experts but, as usual again, class members from all parts of Oklahoma, from varied professions and from multiple life experiences examined together and the collective mind was amazing. The result was an enlightened and excited bunch of Oklahomans. We all left Cushing feeling alive and aware and responsible. No more being confused by stories on T.V.! We knew the real deal!
Do you remember how much fun it was when your class pulled into a strange town where half the residents and all the community leaders waited for you with enough delicious food to feed 500 growing boys? In Cushing, they laid out the carpet; the mayor spoke and they fed us chicken and steak kabobs, tabouli, cabbage rolls, a scrumptious rice dish and then cobbler. Probably only the locals know that Joseph’s of Drumright could really feed us well! Cushing showed us things no one gets to see, behind the scenes, special, private stuff like the actual storage tank farms. (It is there that “spies” secretly fly over to ascertain if Oklahoma is really “full,” having no more available storage and thereby bolstering the argument for/against more pipelines.) The knowledgeable people from Fechner Pump & Supply, Enbridge and Pacer Oil, like people from all LOK host towns, graciously and generously shared themselves and their expertise.
The ideas flew around the room and everyone in attendance got involved, eagerly sorting the issues, and trying to understand NYMEX and oil pricing. Of the attendees, almost half graduated from LOK over 10 years ago. It was exhilarating with leaders like Sam Combs, Phil Kliewer, Martha Burger, Carolyn Stager, Kay Martin, Tony Zahn, Kay Lasser, Ford Drummond, Mary Lee Hurt Draper, Melinda Berry Fischer, Bruce Benbrook and Scott Jones. What keeps busy people like these coming back after all these years? Maybe they, like me, enjoy the intense, loving, invigorating but sometimes heavy sessions with LOK friends. Where else can you find so many smart and fun, old and new friends?
Sometimes I’d like to go back to my pre-Leadership Oklahoma Class VII existence. I rode my bike and thought about aching calf muscles and my neighbor’s yard. Now I think about human trafficking and hunger in Oklahoma. Somehow LOK made me want to know about Cushing oil and reach beyond my grasp. I’m a lawyer, for Pete’s sake, but LOK made me reallycare.
My classmates flew together until we graduated in 1994, but now it’s just up to me. Amazingly, the caring and feeling of responsibility have not gone away. It’s harder now without those old friends, but I can’t stop. I won’t. I learned too much. That’s why I go to Cushing and I bet that’s why Sam and Kay and Ford and Phil go too. They have a heartfelt desire to stay informed and to help, so they seek out the camaraderie of like-minded LOK alums. I always feel refreshed and like all the cobwebs are washed away! The dues and the time are so worth it. I don’t want to miss it. Thanks LOK!