I retired a little over five years ago, somewhat to the surprise of my bosses at the time who, based on my work output, had assumed I'd retired closer to the start of the Twenty-First Century. Such kidders. The kind of people who gave me an Employee of the Month scroll written on an Etch-a-Sketch.
I always approached work the way I think (hope) a lot of us do, with Noel Coward's words in my head and heart: 'Work is much more fun than fun.' Considering how much of our lives are spent working, about a third, and how much is spent sleeping, also about a third, it's probably not coincidental that we've all shared the job at the time with someone who can do both simultaneously. I've always considered those folks to be albino unicorns.
It's still early days, literally as well as figuratively, in the school year and the logistics may be a little hard to accomplish, though for me as a retiree it's just a matter of getting up. Before you head to work tomorrow or the next day, take a walk down your block wherever it is you live, and check out the kids waiting to get on, and already aboard, the school buses.
Pay close attention because the passengers on those school buses are the next generation of grown-ups, and thanks in large part to both their parents/caregivers and their teachers, those wide-eyed and enthusiastic beginners will be transformed into the next wave of, well, us.
Look at those faces peering out through bus windows and then, on your way to work check out your own look in the rearview mirror. Most, I would never say all, of those on the bus still had that gleam in their eyes and some variation of 'bring it on' as a facial expression.
And as grown-ups, we find that 'cute' or maybe even 'heartening' but we never, ever question what happened to our own sense of wonder at the learning or the doing of something new and different.
Instead, we struggle instead of stride, sigh instead of soar, and worry so much about people and events beyond our control that we can't seem to find the goodness in those we already have.
Too many of us have lost the joy of doing things well just for the sake of doing them. I think we're tuned to WIIFM, What's In It For Me and too many of us are stuck between stations. We follow celebrities on social media perhaps in search of the awe we have misplaced and forgotten about our own accomplishments and lives.
Taking nothing away from a four hundred-foot home run or a touchdown pass but who decided it's worth celebrating more than repairing a vehicle's broken timing strap or filling a prescription (or any of the hundreds of thousands of well-done jobs that must happen every moment of every day in the world in which we live).
There may not be an end-zone celebration for filling a cavity, and most dentists' offices are a little snug to start with especially if you're wearing shoulder pads and a helmet, but the reward for doing a good job should be the knowledge (and satisfaction) you did it.
And just because not every adult leads a SportsCenter-worthy life or makes the cover of People magazine doesn't mean each adult cannot be an example for those who are following.
Big things, like the Golden Rule but also other things like crossing only at the intersection, not littering, and treating others, all others, with respect. Everything can be and is a teachable moment, it doesn't have to be in the classroom. Don't just set the example, BE the example.
-bill kenny
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