Porthole

I should have been a teacher

I lost an entire blog entry when I went to save it. My reaction to that isn't very polite...

Yesterday was Opposite Day! Today I want you to take an opposite point of view. Imagine a place you go to regularly - they gym, your regular coffee shop, wherever you choose. Take up the POV of the person at the counter, the bike across from you, any one person you choose. What's your first impression of yourself? Is it the real you or one you plan and project?

I have traveled around the world. I'm constantly faced with how others perceive me.

Today I asked Mason, a young Alabaman (a rare breed here) what he thought I did for a living. He said, as most people have said, that I was a 'teacher'.

I never was a teacher.

I was a gardener because I gardened, a writer because I write, a traveler because I travel.

My degree in biology allowed me to work as a public servant, jobs that never used my skills nor nurtured who I was. Yes, I should have gotten a higher degree in geology or linguistics... but it's too late now. I have neither the time nor energy.

Is the me that people respond to a planned projection? I don't think so. I suspect that people who don't know me have a much better idea of who I am than I do of myself.

I was never fond of looking in mirrors.

So I share: my experiences, my thoughts, my opinions. In a way, I am an unpaid teacher. I just don't have the title.

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