[00:06.33]UNIT6
[00:12.57]An Ideal Position
[00:14.31]Life is good.
[00:17.82]My career in elementary education
[00:20.66]in Canada is now
[00:22.96]just a fond memory.
[00:24.82]I think back on
[00:27.01]the many years of service and
[00:28.76]I recall the many classes
[00:30.29]I taught, the different schools
[00:32.80]I worked at, the countless staff
[00:34.99]meetings I attended and
[00:36.74]the many committees I served on.
[00:39.04]I estimate that the number
[00:41.77]of faculty members I worked with
[00:43.74] over the years is
[00:45.06]in the hundreds and
[00:46.70]well over a thousand students
[00:47.90]have called me teacher.
[00:49.22]Is it any wonder that
[00:51.84] I can say that
[00:53.70]I always felt comfortable
[00:54.79] walking in school corridors?
[00:57.86]Sometimes I worked with students
[01:00.92]at the intermediate level.
[01:03.33] In Canada, students at that level
[01:06.18] are youth in their
[01:07.37]preteen years as well as teenagers.
[01:09.45]When I decided to retire,
[01:12.85]I knew that the first step
[01:15.25]in the procedure was
[01:16.57]to write a letter to my employer,
[01:18.98]a school board,
[01:20.69]to resign my position.
[01:22.66]I postponed mailing the letter.
[01:26.59]I was reluctant to
[01:28.46]add the postage to the letter,
[01:30.43]knowing that once I mailed it,
[01:32.73]the decision could not be reversed.
[01:35.68]Because I was a veteran teacher
[01:38.96]of many years, I would be
[01:41.36]eligible to receive a pension.
[01:43.55] I calculated that the revenue
[01:46.73] I would receive each month
[01:48.48]would be sufficient to
[01:50.01]sustain my current lifestyle.
[01:51.98]If I was smart about
[01:54.71]my spending habits, I might
[01:57.23]even have a surplus of money.
[01:58.87]I certainly would not need
[02:02.04]to pinch every penny.
[02:03.91]I knew the money
[02:05.99]would not come to me
[02:07.41] in the form of a cheque.
[02:08.94]Instead, it would be deposited
[02:11.78]directly into my bank account.
[02:14.63]I could withdraw cash
[02:16.60] from my investments if
[02:18.02]I needed to supplement my income,
[02:20.32] my credit rating would
[02:22.72]allow me to be eligible
[02:24.37]for a loan when some
[02:25.89]unforeseen financial crisis arose.
[02:28.52]I knew, therefore, that
[02:32.57]there was no reason to panic,
[02:34.32]as my future was secure
[02:36.18]even if inflation increased
[02:38.37]or a recession occurred.
[02:40.34]In either case my income
[02:43.18]would only be minus
[02:46.57]a few dollars, a fraction
[02:48.11]of the total amount.
[02:49.31]I decided to take the plunge,
[02:52.59]but waited another fortnight
[02:54.67]before I mailed the letter.
[02:57.29]I even paused briefly
[02:59.37]with the letter part way
[03:01.45]into the mail slot
[03:03.09] before I thrust the letter
[03:04.95] into the mailbox.
[03:06.70]I knew that the simple act
[03:09.22] of mailing that letter
[03:10.86] would alter my life |