Monday, June 19, 2006

Paul is 64.

At what point do we realize that we are still learning and doing, but to do more, we actually need to plan it.

Or to put it another way, when does one stop living by the mantra, "it is Friday, what are we doing tonight" and start living the [extreme] "it's 2006, we need to start planning for retirement."?

Or to put it an even different way, when (and how) do we cross the line of being immortal [and "damn straight we can cross the street anywhere we want to] and begin realizing that we are not only immortal, but chagrinned to find out that soccer post-40 might just actually require a discussion with one's doctor.

So, here is the point. . .

Apparently, I am crossing another one of these lines (not sure which one exactly) but here is the deal. The other day I began thinking that teaching kids was a pretty important (if not extremely important) job. As I was thinking this a bit, I thought that for me to teach, I'd have to take a not-so-insignificant pay cut. That didn't seem right.

Helping the construction of roads and bridges is (I think) a pretty good occupation -- it assists others in reaching destinations so that they might be able to do some good in society [really, this is how I view engineering - it is an assistance-type job - not for acquisition of any higher purpose actual goal, but a necessary stepping stone toward one of those higher goals].

So, isn't teaching the same thing? Except that the canvas (or concrete form) is a bit cleaner. Yes, it is. Teaching kids is one of the paramount goals of any society that can't or won't reach the Ultimate Goal within the next generation. It has to be -- otherwise we're moving backward -- and attaining goals moving backward doesn't really work.

So, I have a goal. I have taken the first (albeit tiny) step in getting teacher's pay equivalent to engineer's pay -- from just post-graduate to 30 years.

It is important to me and I am moving forward.

By the way. . .
Some information, yesterday, Paul McCartney was 64. Will you still need me, will you still feed me. . . Posted by Picasa

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