All I wanted to do was scan myself a document. Staring at the copier, I found myself beginning to argue with it, and it argued back by beeping at me. I knew I was pushing the wrong button, but I could not figure out which one.

As I stood there contemplating whether or not to thrust my knee into the side of the copier, one of the secretaries in the office asked “Mr. Howey, do you need some help?” I quickly replied, “Yes please, I just want to scan this document to myself is all.

Pretty pathetic scene. Here is a guy with Master’s Degree, 35 years of administrative experience, wearing a coat and tie, making more money than anybody else in the office, and he cannot figure out how to scan a document himself.

She walked over, gently tapped a few buttons and said, “There you go, just hit send.”

I did as told, document sent, mission accomplished. Walking away I said, “I don’t deserve you guys, do I? She chuckled and replied with a grin. “Probably not, at least you didn’t try to scan it through the shredder.”

Although she was joking with me, she was exactly right. There are some people that I do not deserve in my life.

Running a large public multi-school Athletic Department in a major city certainly required some strategic planning and experience, but more importantly it required individuals that were willing to grind out 40-hour work weeks for minimal pay and little or no recognition.

You hear the term “unsung heroes” so often in life that you really don’t take the time to contemplate who they are and what it takes to be considered as one.

Let us break “Unsung Hero” down:

Unsung; not celebrated or praised

Hero; someone who does something for the benefit of others

Unsung Hero; doing something for the benefit of others and receiving zero credit for it.

In the age of steam trains, energy was created by coal. Basically, heat from coal burning in the furnace boils water in the boiler and it produces steam. The steam is then piped to a turbine where high-pressure steam impinges and expands across a set of blades in the turbine, causing it to rotate and create energy.

It was a Stoker that grabbed the shovel and tossed coal into the furnace to begin the process of creating energy

A Stoker is defined as; one employed to tend a furnace and supply it with fuel: one that feeds a fire.

What many people may not know is that it took a high level of skill to maintain an even fire and control the temperature. If it got too cool, the train slowed down, if it got too hot, the train sped up, adding extra heat and pressure.

A Stoker was the difference between success and failure, and any reasonable train Engineer knew that and never disrespected their Stoker.

I would consider a Stoker an “unsung hero.”

America was built one shovel load at a time by unsung heroes. For any business/organization to run, it takes Stokers. Skilled individuals that are willing to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and do work that receives little or no recognition.

A train full of passengers tracking across the United States in the 1800’s sat comfortably in their seats and gazed out the window at the new frontier. Completely oblivious to the Stoker making that train move, one scoop at a time.

In my office, someone had to sweep floors, empty trash, file reports, break down boxes, clean toilets, make copies, shred documents, and the list goes on, and on. I did not do any of that, but it needed to be done every single day to keep the motor running.

I was surrounded by Stokers, and the reality for many of them is that 40 hours is just the beginning of their work week. Many of them worked overtime and second jobs.

Stokers are all around us. They punch in, they punch out, every single day without complaint. Stokers are the salt of the earth, they feed the fire that moves America.

I am not sure I qualified as a Stoker; my job was just not that hard because I was surrounded by people I did not deserve carrying more than their share of the load.

I just sat in my chair and blew the horn while they shoveled the coal.

Give credit where credit is due. I have learned in my life that credit is rarely due to the boss.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles will appear on Fridays.