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An Evaluation of My Life’s Work as a Teacher
Was it worth it?
I think most people when they are nearing the end of their careers, spend some time reflecting on how they spent a substantial part of their lives. I’ll never forget the day my dad left the paper mill for the last time after working there for 37 years. I was in the car with my mom and my sisters waiting for him to make his final exit. We had a big retirement party planned.
“There,” he said, smiling. “I just finished wasting 37 years of my life.”
He laughed, and so did we, but there was a part of me that felt a little dismayed. Was he just being humorous, or did he really feel that way? I neverasked him that question, but my guess is he felt that way at least partly. I worked in that paper mill myself for two years, and I will grant there is not a lot in that factory to make you feel otherwise. If he really felt that way, the sacrifice he made to provide for us was enormous. If he felt that way, why didn’t he do something else with his life? The answer to that was obvious. How does a man with six children in a small town change how he makes his living? He doesn’t. At some point along that path, he realized he was trapped in the paper mill whether he liked it or not and that there was no way he would ever be able to strike out in another direction. Still, he went to work every day and never…
