It seems like the older I get, the more I want to do things my own way, and to heck with the rest of the world. I guess it is one of the only perks of old age.
Today I was thinking about this, and it seems to me that I was a pretty well behaved child who rarely got into to trouble or had to be punished. I do, however, recall a few instances where my own desire to do my own thing led to some unhappy outcomes.
I remember that one time when I was may six or seven, I decided to try and find a school friend's house several blocks away from ours. I ventured off and became a little lost and stayed away until my dad came to find me. Boy, he was unhappy!
I was sent to bed without supper and cried myself to sleep. That may have been the one and only time in my life that I missed a meal!
Another time a new house was being constructed across the street from ours. I had been told to stay away from this dangerous contruction site. But I did SO want to see the new house inside! I followed my older brothers across the street, then sneaked inside. While exploring inside, I fell through a hole in the floor that had been cut out for heating vents. Ouch! Again, I was in trouble.
Well, do you know what strong-willed people grow up to be? That's right - school teachers. We can have our own little classroom empires where we can have our own way. Except that school boards, principals, parents, and even students (well, mostly students) often disagree and exert their own pressures negative to our desires. Anyway, we presist in believing that we rule our little empires.
So, do you know where old, retired teachers go, when they retire? Yep, they enter the world of volunteerism. And we think we are excellent volunteers. And mostly we are. We work hard. We learned early to be on time. We are creative, and we know that to survive any endeavor you have to be able to laugh at yourself. The only problem is that we have never gotten over that dratted desire to do as WE PLEASE.
If you have ever sat on a volunteer board where many retired teachers are involved, you know that those board meetings can be marathonic! I know, that is not a word, but I want it to be a word, and it should be a word. So there! Every teacher on the board has a different opinion on every item to be discussed, and must express that opinion whether it be about rules, procedures, new projects, or where to have lunch ( especially about where to have lunch.) Sometimes it takes months to change a by-law.
But we do eventually iron out our problems. It sometimes takes sheer genius to
to travel the mine field of interpersonal relations. But, give those teacher volunteers a good long break with refreshments and a teachers' lounge atmosphere,with no student interruptions, and we will follow you anywhere and tackle any job.
So the next time you see a retired teacher working at some community event, be extra kind and patient, or else!
