Playing God

I just recently took a part-time job at a preschool as a teacher and I love it so much. The children are adorable, and they say and do the cutest things! :) The owner of the school told me I'm really good with the children, and that I have an effective teaching style. I like working with kids so much I went down to the School Board Office last week to see what I need to do to teach PreK at an elementary school.

I'm now currently studying to take the Florida Teacher Certification Examination (FTCE) to be certified to teach PreK-3rd grade. I'm totally stoked! Anyways, I told you all this so that I could share an experience I had that REALLY pissed me off, and make an important point. So, all my regular readers know that I did a pretty prestigious internship in Washington, DC last Fall in which I spent a lot of time on Capital Hill. Last week I called one of my old college professors who I'm close to and like to keep in contact with.

I told him how I love working with children in the educational sense, and how I'm pursuing my certification now. There was then about a 10 second pause and complete silence on his end of the phone. He then says to me, "Gabrielle, I'm not happy to hear that. I'm actually a little disappointed. You hold a degree in politics and law. You interned in DC on Capital Hill where you met some of the most powerful people in the nation. You weren't supposed to wind up being a damn preschool teacher.

I was floored to say the least. I was also hurt, angry, and a little sad. I was hurt because every since I met Dr. Jackson my freshmen year in college, he had always given me great advice and encouraged me to follow my dreams and do what I felt was right. His comment was totally contradictory to what he had always taught me. It was also extremely hypocritical since he himself is in the field of education.

I was pissed because I hate when people try to tell me what I "should be doing," what I "should feel," or how I "should think." No one on this green earth knows me better than me. So I wish people would just back off and stop imposing their opinions/bullshit beliefs on me. People need to stop trying to play God and let people just live their lives.

God put goals and dreams on our heart because he knows what we're meant to accomplish and do during our short stay on this planet. I was really saddened that choosing a career to serve people (especially children) is looked down upon in favor of money, power, and the pursuit of those two things. People have got it all backwards.

People matter more than materialistic joys and shallow prestige. Investing in lives means more than investing in the stock market. I would choose to be a lover of people and a student of humankind anyday over being a lover of wealth and an owner of high society status. One of my prayers for mankind is that people will begin to see the true value in eachother rather than material things.

Sincerely,
Gabby

A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. ~Author Unknown

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition. ~Jacques Barzun

Dreams are free, so free your dreams. ~Astrid Alauda

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

I'm not materialistic. I believe in presents from the heart, like a drawing that a child does. ~Victoria Beckham

There was a time in my life when I thought I had everything - millions of dollars, mansions, cars, nice clothes, beautiful women, and every other materialistic thing you can imagine. Now I struggle for peace. ~Richard Pryor