Tuesday, August 24, 2010

JOBQUEST 2: What? I thought you were a teacher?

Why switch career tracks at this stage of the game?

Why indeed. I enjoy being a teacher. I will always enjoy being a teacher. And here's something I believe about being a teacher: everyone everywhere has the opportunity to teach. At the supermarket you can be a teacher. In your home you can be a teacher. In your personal relationships, certainly, you can be a teacher. Being a teacher is a great thing to be. And I believe I have knack for it. Probably because both my parents, my wife, my sister, and my best friend are all teachers.

But the teacher track feels like a well-defined box to me right now. It's damn hard work, teaching, and good work. I know what a lifetime of hard work in the classroom yields: students recognize you twenty years later and thank you for teaching them how to write, or how to build a desk, or, more importantly, how to not be a jackass. I know this because I've shopped for groceries with both my parents. It happens. Often. It's a rich reward for Herculean labors. It's awesome.

But for me right now it feels like an awesome box. So my radar is scanning the horizon for opportunity and a chance for me to write a story where I don't already know the ending.

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