I got in trouble for these exact words before, so I leave now an annotated copy to prevent misunderstandings.
Since it is easier to annotate with a .DOCX file, I simply leave the link below. No, this is not a virus it goes to my personal OneDrive where I keep things I write that I leave unpublished or don’t think are ready for the world to see.
What I got in trouble for: Reaction vs. Vision.docx
What I really meant to say: Reaction vs. Vision REVISED COPY June 2025.docx
Document password for both documents: itisfinished
Please compare and contrast the two documents. The first, was my writing about the situation as I was in the situation in May 2022, shortly after having been fired by.. not my boss, but some stooge he hired to place in the middle of us because I could tell I had either ticked him off or he was actually afraid of the power I held in my hands with a pen.. for they say, and have always said since literature was invented, and which I believe to be true – “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
The second document (which I just wrote right now after having a 2.5 hours beautiful conversation with a woman I I met on the internet because with vision like mine I actually foresee a future in life that is good and habitable and therefore think there is beauty in a connection or bond like that, one like the one my parents demonstrated for me) in a flurry of action over the past 3 hours as I finally achieved the clarity to properly explain myself in all aspects of the ideas which I had laid bare to people back in the days when I was so stressed out by cortisol that I was completely clamming up.
I was damaged. There was real, moral damage caused to myself by the company which hired me.
I was not able to eat, sleep, or think about anything else when these things were happening. I was unable to keep relationships with people who thought I was actually slowly going insane or crazy in the sense that I had no control over my actions and would possibly become violent like an animal, like a wounded or hurt animal, and lost my friend group, my then-girlfriend (a Catholic from an actively-practicing family), a beautiful apartment which I loved decorating and playing music in, and access to the city which I once used to call home, and wish to in the future. A protective order barring me from such addresses as those listed in the court documents would essentially ban me for the next 3 years from even stepping foot in Indianapolis, which is frankly a ridiculous – perhaps even preposterous* – proposition.
*Preposterous was the exact word I used the first time around in the hearing that came about as a result of the original post, having been asked of the court to answer merely Yes or No to explain myself, a ridiculous proposition in and of itself. To explain myself, I need at least, 3 times more vocabulary than this! What is this, a vocubulary for ants? (A quote from my favorite movie Zoolander, comedy masterpiece.) God I overexplain. Yes, I overexplain. Because the time I was not fully able to explain myself they sicked their lawyers after me like rabid dogs.
Sick puppies.
Most people may see me as an engineer, so it may come as a suprise to them that I am capable of writing such sweet prosaic metaphor with 3 layers of depth that will make even the most learned English teacher blush with confusion if not properly read down to the syntax and grammar afforded the English language studied by someone who was able to master German grammar (and in fact who holds a C1 from Goethe Intitut of which I need not brag any further).
Should I retaliate? No. Not unless the intention is the kickstart ‘er back up tomorrow without properly implementing a functioning LDAR program and making things right to such an extent that there is no noticeable smell in the air in this southwest side neighborhood so that it becomes not just pragmatically non-toxic, but also non-toxic in the hearts and minds of the people. Because at the end of the day, as Sir Gerald Templer may say, true warfare [or of critical, hard-fought, difficult work] is won in the hearts and minds of the consensus of the people in summa*.
*This is a latin word phrase I just learned. Any good lawyer should get a kick out of a Latin lesson.
This is why I always come correct. Not to be pedantic, but to share my vision for the world. The things which I wish to be true and ideals for which to toil away for in order to create a more perfect union, and in turn a more perfect world where people and environment and chemicals are not all at odds with each other as previously thought, but could be handled in such a manner becoming of the mantle of taking on the difficult work that it might take to see fully through to completion.
Of this I feel extremely proud of myself for not caving. For not budging on my morals, on my intentions, on my deeply and firmly rooted beliefs for the best of everyone and of mankind… and my gentle nature can be attested for and seen by anyone who has been friendly with me in the past. As Roosevelt said, speak softly but carry a big stick. Well, since I am not allowed to own any firearms because of these happenings, I guess I will simply speak softly into this megaphone of my own website. Because I don’t intend, nor do I ever intend to, need to carry a big stick, because there are more important goals to fight for than to defend my property or “way of life” (how ephemeral a society self-describes itself in some idealistic way). Way of life should follow rationality, not the other way around. And our way of life should make chemical plants yet even safer than they already are. Our rules are too lax, because the work is “too hard”. It is not too hard. It simply requires dedication to a task, near maniacal determination for a cause, and the VISION to get there… and the teachers to continue the tradition.
To anyone in the recent history who was hurt by the self-destructive man who contemplated suicide due to failing his mission, I truly, deeply apologize from the depths of my heart. But I had some how unwittingly discovered a Moby Dick to chase. And unlike Captain Ahab, I did not intend to end up at the end of the story sunk to the bottom of the sea (as I write this right now tears are currently streaming down my face because I have suddenly become very emotional thinking about all those people whose feelings at the time I told to fuck right off because there was something bothering me and would continue to bother me for at least 4 or more years to come).
I want Indianapolis to be clean. I want Indianapolis to be beautiful. I volunteered for KIBI with my then-girlfriend (Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Incorporated) which is a non-profit which plants young trees in neighborhoods around Indianapolis because they have VISION.
It is very difficult in this day of vitriol, violence, overly-masculine aggression and pigheadedness to maintain the peace in your heart, but for my morals and beliefs I will die on ANY hill. Because these morals and beliefs are not those of merely my own individual devising. They are those of a Methodist upbringing, two amazing and dedicated parents, a fantastic public school system in McHenry, IL where I grew up, where we were taught to be leaders on the Student Leadership Team, and where I was given the chance to read every single book that I could get my grubby little paws on as a wee lad, thumbing through copies like John Grisham’s The Firm at the age of 11 and seeing how companies and CEOs and stakeholders can manipulate well-intentioned individuals for action in the face of serving capitalistic and economic purposes.
Well, to that end, I also should elucidate a future update to the SAP workflow used as an ERP to calculate cash flows and understand the economics of a business. That is a workflow that includes as much as possible the negative externalities, yes, a real economist’s dream buzzword, which affect communities. Diminishing health of individuals involved in turn diminishing returns on investment in the whole operation.. Negative exernalities, such as when someone’s mom smokes inside the house, and that causes damage to a child’s lung tissue at an early and developmental age, which causes him to run slower on the cross country team than his peers. Negative externalities, like not being able to scrub the water clean enough for people so that lead contaminates the pipes and results in hurt people, who in turn hurt people through their increased levels of aggression… (which is a side affect associated with lead poisoning, which is long thought to have been the downfall of one of the greatest civilizations ever created The Holy Roman Empire as they used purely lead for their piping which they never discovered was a pretty bad idea.
If you read what I write, from the fount of knowledge that I claim to be – for if I did not I would not write – then please, please please tell me if there are elements of my speech which are difficult to understand. And I will bring you clarity by rewording it ad nauseum until you finally fucking get that which I am trying to get across.
That which I have always been trying to get across, since May 2022.
Let us all rest now and wish me not be be blackballed completely from industry for trying to do the right thing.
We have a very complex system of government here in the USA which is more akin to the famed Russian oligarchy than I like – in fact, in some German political textbook I read the first few pages of in Germany which was published in the 1950s or 1960s, it states matter-of-factly – from an outsider’s perspective – thusly: “Die Vereinigten Staaten sind eine oligarchische repräsentative Demokratie.” Or something like that.
I love the earth, the planet, and the people in it, and we do not need to keep fighting each other for short term gains when some of us are capable of thinking on long term timelines.
I wish for the planet to be clean. I wish for the next 100,000 years of happy habitation of this weird dirt-floored spaceship we are all on hurtling through the galaxy on at 447,000 – nearly half a million! – miles per hour. Let’s see the SR-71 Blackbird do that.
Signing off, and not for the last time.
Devin Friske
Engineer, writer, musician, and tinkerer
Of sound mind and body and health at this moment in which I write this piece.
My Personal Blog 