Safe & Sorry

With the serious budget crunch in Pennsylvania (more like matter collapsing into black hole), a higher percentage of the senior member of school district's educators than usual are retiring as a final act of generosity.

It is before some of them were planning to in order to save their school's money and get off the payroll. For such educators, commendations are due. I know for many, it has been a heart-wrenching decision.

The local Hempfield Suburban News (a step above The Merchandiser, a truly here today and into the firepit tomorrow publication) did a profile on some of the recent retirees from the Hempfield School District. It was a smattering of those calling it a day across the District.

One of the retiring teachers, and Industrial Arts/Technology instructor, stated that his Greatest Accomplishment was "The fact that in 25 years none of my students were seriously injured." That made me sad....it wasn't something along the lines, "I had many talented students discover and develop abilities in creating projects that were artfully amazing and functionally innovative and in the process they learned something about themselves as well as the craft of woodworking" or something to that effect.

Now I know shop teachers bear a heavy burden making sure junior highers don't chop off their fingers because they are goofing around with their buddies, just like how school counselors like me fear losing a kid to suicide or another act of self-destruction such as driving drunk or too fast. Yet, it seems to me that to define one's greatest achievement in a vocation--especially in teaching--by what didn't happen rather than by what did, is very telling and profoundly tragic. My Greatest Accomplishment as a school counselor is that (still in progress) "I both cared for and challenged my students...to dream and to then do."

In life, it is common to avoid the risk of losing but not really winning either. I had one those "A Ha" moments a couple of weeks ago with a student in my office when we were talking about sacrifice. I said something to the effect, "Sacrifice is a reality of life...it is not so much to sacrifice as to not sacrifice. It is more of a question of a good sacrifice versus a bad sacrifice, that creates or destroys the probabilities of success." The formula is something like this:

"Great sacrifice equals great success." But the sacrifice has to be done is wisdom. Here are two real life examples:

1) Getting drunk as a way of life (bad sacrifice) versus taking time daily to exercise (good sacrifice).

2) Stop spending hours watching insipid, inane, and immoral television (bad sacrifice), and rather go back to college part-time and getting a degree (good sacrifice).

What are you willing to sacrifice in order to succeed...are you willing to risk in order to gain a greater reward, or do you plan to play it safe, get your gold watch, and watch it tick down? I am trying to push myself to not play it safe.

Too many people tip-toe through life, to arrive safely at death Tony Campolo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shake the Dust: Anis Mojgani

Pslam 90:2 "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." I am not real certain where Anis Mojgani comes from belief-wise. Cats like him tend to be synchrestic spiritually rather than Christ-centered. Yet, this poem captures the spirit of Jesus. What this poem also needs is grace....we shake off sin and mortality and take on Christ and immortality. This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers For the former prom queen And for the milk crate ball players This is for the school yard wimps And the childhood bullies that tormented them Shake the dust. This is for the benches and the people sitting upon them. This is for the bus drivers driving a million broken hymns And for the men who have to hold down 3 jobs, Simply to hold up their children. For the nighttime schoolers And for the midnight bike riders trying to fly Shake the dust. For the two year olds who cann
Read more

White Shoes, White Stones

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it. (ASV) With the white stone mentioned above in the Scripture verse, "And will give him a white stone" it is "Supposed that by the white stone is meant pardon or acquittance, and the evidence of it; and that there is an allusion here to the custom observed by judges in ancient times, who were accustomed to give their suffrages by white and black pebbles; those who gave the former were for absolving the culprit, those who gave the latter were for his condemnation." (Clarke) What has brought about this essay was my purchasing the other day of some very white and new Nike jogging shoes. My old pair of Nike's have been worn down. I was developing serious pain in my feet which is a solid sign that it is t
Read more

Going Rogue: Dare, Risk, Dream

Image
I picked up a bumper sticker at a Pub recently from the Rogue Brewery . On it there are the words: DARE, RISK, DREAM. Typically, the word Rogue is a negative term. I will let you decide if Sarah Palin and her book has made the word less or more so. Initially, I taped the bumper sticker to my computer lap top with the backing still on it in case I wanted to remove it. Just a second ago, I committed fully, and pulled the backing off and affixed it to my Dell. No turning back. Is that not an illustration of how to accomplish great things? We have to stick and commit. If we go taping ourselves to the backs of things, it leads to easier removal but also to tepid efforts. Now, if I take this bumper sticker off the back of my lap top it is going to be a mess...I am all in. Consequences be damned. My summer vacation officially began today at noon (why else would I be blogging at 3:26 am?) and my creed for the summer is DARE, RISK, DREAM. A Kerouac quote to light the fireworks... "Great th
Read more