Okay, this is an expression that is almost oxymoronic since I am actually posting about having our air conditioner repaired. The “warm my heart” part though is that I am in the office and the AC unit is next to me. The young lady who is performing as the lead technician is accompanied by an older technician and it appears to be an on-going check and balance repair. This delights me for two reasons. For those who may not be aware, my military career was split between logistics, administration, and training. The logistics (unlike in the civilian world where that mostly means transportation) was heavily weighted in the initial years toward maintenance of military vehicles and weapons systems. However, that also included power generation and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning.) The Army has lots of different kinds of equipment. So, as the years progressed and more young women came into the technical services, it was always nice to see them entering these fields and exceling.

The second reason is that as I have posted before, while I believe in college education, I see too many people who allowed that goal to override the reality of the value of the trades and not accept that college isn’t for everyone. I don’t have the faintest idea of what this young lady’s aspirations are and perhaps she plans to ultimately go to college, or maybe she’s enrolled and only working part time. What I do know is that she seems to knowledgeable and confident and is definitely professional in bearing and appearance.

And as I have stated before, if you want true empowerment for women, it is about choice. While that is sometimes viewed as choosing between career and family, it equally applies to a choice of profession such as going into the technical trades. The women who enter into automotive repair, construction, electrician, HVAC, plumbing, or any of those very traditionally male fields are to be applauded for their willingness to take on jobs that “girls aren’t good at”.

I’ve waited to post this, and several hours later, the house is comfortably cool and while the repairs weren’t cheap, at least we didn’t have to replace the unit.