DEAR SEAN:
I am a teacher. I’ve been teaching for almost 25 years. It was my dream job. I’ve always loved it and now I don’t.
Inept administration, difficult students, priority-confused parents, and lack of support with increased expectations have worn me down. Now all I think about is retirement.
Kids are my life. Their smiles, wit, hugs, those “aha moments” they have… Their wonder. It is what I live for. How do I find my spark again?
Sincerely,
NEED-HELP-IN-MICHIGAN
DEAR MICHIGAN:
Boy howdy. I’m the wrong guy to ask. Educators are persons who have answered the highest calling, whereas I am a guy who hasn’t emptied the dishwasher since Labor Day.
Besides, I’m in the same boat you’re in. I too have lost my spark.
Have you ever seen the 1953 Western “Shane” starring Alan Ladd? Remember the iconic closing scene wherein the hero (Shane) rides away while Little Joey is begging him to stay?
To freshen your memory, here’s a replay of that movie ending:
The horse stables. Nighttime. Shane saddles his mare. Little Joey is crying, asking Shane not to
leave. Shane is Joey’s boyhood idol.
Shane, clad in a spectacular buckskin fringe jacket, tells the kid he’s leaving for good.
“Joey… You go home to your mother and your father, and grow up to be strong and straight.”
The boy sniffles. “Shane...”
Music swells for a dramatic goodbye while Shane steps into the stirrups and rides away into the Wyoming Territory.
The boy chases Shane, pleading with the enigmatic gunslinger not to leave. But Shane ignores the boy and rides off.
The final line of the movie comes from the weeping child who screams: “Shane! Shane, come back!”
That’s exactly what my year has been like.
Old Me climbed onto his horse and hightailed it into the Bighorns, while Current Me chased him and shouted, “Sean! Sean! Come back!”
Before COVID, I had a spark…