Another leap of faith

I quit my job.  While successful, while well-respected by my supervisor and my organization, while very well compensated, while privileged to operate in a very well-resourced environment, and to live in a hub for travel and exploration in the middle of Europe for the last several years, I have nonetheless turned in my resignation effective at the end of this school year.  While in the middle of a targeted job search, I don't as of now have another job lined up.  In other words, for now, unless something changes, I am effectively unemployed in these tumultuous times and in this challenging economy, come August.

My colleagues have described my action and choice as "gutsy," "bold," "brave," and "crazy."  Sometimes that last was preceded with an unprintable adjective.

I think of it as a leap of faith.  We (my family and I) made it after much reflection, discussion and prayer.  Here's the thing:  discerning and doing what is "right" after analyzing the sum total of input data, seems to always work out for the best.  For this choice, this year, the pull home to Oregon, this spring, just ended up out-balancing all the other pieces of the puzzle.  My wife and I are both only children, and our parents in Oregon deserve and increasingly need our proximity, attention, and care.  My son has chosen Oregon Statue University for his next step, as he graduates from our DoDDS high school this June, and being closer to him, as well as qualifying for resident tuition, has its appeal.  I am at the dissertation stage of my doctorate, and easier access to US schools for research will be helpful.  Emotionally, with thirteen years of our married life spent abroad, my wife and I are again ready for some time "at home."  Professionally, I am ready to make a change to a higher level of leadership, ideally to my constitution in a somewhat smaller educational institution than is DoDEA, and while the international schools hold appeal, the Pacific Northwest calls as a best case scenario.

Leaving a "perfectly good" home/school/employment situation without clear "next step" prospects is par for the course in the international school realm where Arlee and I spent our early careers.  When "moving on" feels right, announcing that, and only then beginning a search for the future (e.g., signing up for an international schools job fair) is the norm.  That is not the norm elsewhere, and it is not the norm here.  Thing is, our background has taught us to trust that leap of faith.  When it's time, it's time.  Things work out as they are meant to.  All will be well.  "Sometimes you have to close one door to open another..."  We have lived it numerous times.  (Hong Kong, to Manila, to Saudi Arabia, to Oregon--each move, in our wonderful global journey, a leap of faith).

Call me gutsy, or call me crazy.  I will grant that the time of uncertainty ("Where will we live, in August?") is difficult.  But, we hold to the certainty, in faith, that "all will be well."  Either, the "right fit" job will come to fruition (for me, and/or for my wife), or, perhaps I will take a year or so to focus on my doctoral studies and dissertation in-depth, maybe do some consulting and ad-hoc work, and re-enter the market later with my Ed.D in hand.

It will work out.  I know it will.

Character

I want to be cautious about moving from the process, here, of creating content, to that of simply highlighting it (sharing and re-posting seems like more of a Facebook kind of thing, not that I do much of it there, anyway.

If I link, or embed, articles or videos or other content here, I hope to at least synthesize, analyze, or evaluate, adding value to and not just bandwidth, to the virtual world.  Just like I strive to do more than take up space, in the physical world.

I don't have much to add, right now, to this piece, and I am posting it here mostly so I can find it back easily next time I want to show it to students or teachers.  The idea that character is vital, is important, is central, to our meaningful existence as humans, well, that resonates with me.  I like the idea that there is a periodic table of character strengths, and will be digging deeper into that idea--possibly even for some tie-in to my dissertation (the topic of which remains disconcertingly fluid right now).

I will say this by way of analysis:  this piece by Tiffany Schlain and the Moxie Institute is worth the eight minutes it takes to watch.  Mobile devices without Flash, click the link here.

Equal time

Most of my recent ramblings have been over in the Technoleadership blog I created for my latest class.

 I have waxed enthusiastic there, granted with a balancing note of caution, about advances in technology, and especially about the societal revolution emerging from ubiquitous mobile internet access and ability to share information and form groups.  My position is, like it or not, the tidal wave is upon us, so we had better learn to surf it!

Here is a spot of equal time, with a beautifully-done artistic video, apparently viral on Facebook.  Ironic, of course because its message is, "turn this thing (the computer or more likely, the mobile device from which you are watching) off."  It is a good reminder that virtual connectivity, while it can be an amazing thing, is not the same thing as connectivity in "real life."  Certainly worth the time it takes to watch it:  Here is the link, if you are on a mobile device without Flash.

It is interesting to read the commentary, and different points of view, on the YouTube channel/page where this is posted by Gary Turk (disclaimer:  I don't know who that is, or anything about him--not an endorsement of anything but this which I found to be a valid and interesting visually presented poem and comment on our times).

See you online...AND, in real life.