Good morning! For a trogladite like myself, this could mean anytime between 9:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Today, I actually got up at the realitivly reasonable time of 9 a.m. I've drank a cup of coffee (my only real friend) and now find myself in front of the computer screen ready to take on yet another hot, muggy day by avoiding it completely in my air conditioned basement. I just wanted to make a quick post this morning and attempt to explain yesterday's blog. Anyone who reads my previous day's rant may come to the conclusion that I'm just a big, fat, lazy s.o.b. who doesn't appreciate the value of a hard day's work. This is not so. I am, in fact, a semi-umemployed English teacher, who for the last four years has been struggling to find a permanent position in a district that doesn't cut their budget year after year.
I've actually been working (in one capacity or another) for the same small school district for the last 3 years. Each year ends with me wondering whether or not I'll return in the fall. My first year I was a substitute. The second found me as a contracted member of the high school faculty, teaching English. This past year is a little harder to explain. The short version is that I was a "Long Term Substitute," and by this I mean I taught the entire year and didn't at all "sub" for anyone. It's a fancy way of saying that I was employed as a teacher for the district doing whatever they asked of me, without any sort of contract. What that means for them is that they had a fully certified teacher at their disposal for the year without having to pay me any sort of benefits. Pretty good deal for them.
I now sound bitter. Yet, I'm not.
I had a FANTASTIC experience this past year (a story for another day) and I'm happy I had the opportunity. I mention all this to explain something from yesterday. I'm not AT ALL against working, I'm just against the value we tend place on it. When I'm teaching, I'm working my ass off and trying my best to give the kids I teach something they can take with them when they leave. I enjoy what I do as much as anyone. I just wonder sometimes about how little emphasis we Americans put on enjoying our lives. If someone finds out we would rather be fishin', then we tend to look at that person with an air of suspicion. Sure, we all say that, we too, would rather be throwing a line in the river, but deep down we would never really ask for the day off. You all know someone at work who pushes the envelope of "days off." That's the person that everybody looks at sideways. Face it, who is more admired at work, the employee with several weeks of vacation days banked from the last 3 or 4 years, or the guy who blows through them by the end of July? The former, of course. That person is "dedicated" and the latter is probably someone who is "just there to pick up a paycheck." But, you know what? Those assumptions about work ethic are so far from the truth. I'd rather be well rested and relaxed after a few quality "days off" than be the other idiot who thinks that being a slave to their job is somehow "honorable." In fact, I'll probably do a better job than our friend the "workaholic" because I've taken time off to reflect on why I do what I do. I'm relaxed and content. Admittedly, most of us have little to no choice in the matter of working. We have to do this. I'm okay with work, but why do I feel the need to explain myself? I think that yesterday my rant was fueled by that most annoying of human emotions, guilt. And so is today's...
I'm not even Catholic.
Peace out.
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Ha, that's funny. I was fishing yesterday with a buddy that's unemployed (like me) and we got to discussing how utterly fantastic the whole day would be if not for the small but burning guilt we each had that we were indeed slacking while others toiled away.
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