D&D Was Right
I believe that, in life, we all have a vocation [1]. We all have a calling to which we are drawn. It isn't our career, nor our job, nor even our hobby. It is our purpose. For many, that purpose is selfish. For others it is indifferent. For others it is destructive. For some, it is beneficial. Our vocation little to do with what we do; it is about who we are.
I am a teacher.
I will never be rich, nor will I ever be famous. I won't be a "mover" nor a "shaker". My role as an inspiration is limited, and my position as a hero nonexistent.
I am a teacher.
This isn't my job. I'm not paid to lecture before students and grade tests. I did that for a while, but the politics of academia interfered with my teaching. Perhaps it is better to say that I am a Master--in the sense that I am one who knows and understands, and who imparts that knowledge and understanding unto others.
According to the statistics, I am more than halfway through my life. I have no illusions of where I will be or what I can become. For all that I cast aside the concept of fate and embrace the dream of free will, I have always known one thing: I will die very old, and very alone. To me, this is a fact. However, as with all facts, it is simply a single point of datum within the matrix that is my life.
Regardless of the tasks which I have complete or the titles which I have held, my life has fallen within two descriptions: Student and Teacher--and they have overlapped for as long as I can remember. As a child in grade school, I corrected my teacher, and I challenged the knowledge of the wisest man I knew, and proved him wrong. And yet... I learned so much from them.
I will never be a celebrity, nor a hero, nor a father, nor a husband. I will never know wealth, nor fame, nor prestige. I will always live on the outside--separate, misunderstood, and feared.
None of that matters.
My vocation--my.... fate--is to be a teacher. I change the world on an individual level--one life at a time. I will never receive honors. There will be no monuments to my name. My memory will die with the last person who knows me. But, if I meet the task set before me, my influence and my wisdom will be passed down through the generations to become an irrevocable part of the Human consciousness.
I am who I am. I can be no more, no less. I have knowledge and wisdom to share with those who will listen. My legacy will be silent; it will be anonymous. But it will live on. That is all that matters. It is not about me, nor my name, nor my lineage. It is about the Path of Wisdom.
If my influence has improved the lives of more than it has harmed, then count my life as benefit to the Universe, and can die happy.
I am a teacher.
I will never be rich, nor will I ever be famous. I won't be a "mover" nor a "shaker". My role as an inspiration is limited, and my position as a hero nonexistent.
I am a teacher.
This isn't my job. I'm not paid to lecture before students and grade tests. I did that for a while, but the politics of academia interfered with my teaching. Perhaps it is better to say that I am a Master--in the sense that I am one who knows and understands, and who imparts that knowledge and understanding unto others.
According to the statistics, I am more than halfway through my life. I have no illusions of where I will be or what I can become. For all that I cast aside the concept of fate and embrace the dream of free will, I have always known one thing: I will die very old, and very alone. To me, this is a fact. However, as with all facts, it is simply a single point of datum within the matrix that is my life.
Regardless of the tasks which I have complete or the titles which I have held, my life has fallen within two descriptions: Student and Teacher--and they have overlapped for as long as I can remember. As a child in grade school, I corrected my teacher, and I challenged the knowledge of the wisest man I knew, and proved him wrong. And yet... I learned so much from them.
I will never be a celebrity, nor a hero, nor a father, nor a husband. I will never know wealth, nor fame, nor prestige. I will always live on the outside--separate, misunderstood, and feared.
None of that matters.
My vocation--my.... fate--is to be a teacher. I change the world on an individual level--one life at a time. I will never receive honors. There will be no monuments to my name. My memory will die with the last person who knows me. But, if I meet the task set before me, my influence and my wisdom will be passed down through the generations to become an irrevocable part of the Human consciousness.
I am who I am. I can be no more, no less. I have knowledge and wisdom to share with those who will listen. My legacy will be silent; it will be anonymous. But it will live on. That is all that matters. It is not about me, nor my name, nor my lineage. It is about the Path of Wisdom.
If my influence has improved the lives of more than it has harmed, then count my life as benefit to the Universe, and can die happy.