Yesterday, I was on the way to class carrying a heavy box full of
weekly journals.  Mac (not his real name) was coming towards me down the
hall.  He saw me, sped up, and opened the glass doors.  Chivalry still
prevails.  As I went lumbered through the doorway with a "thanks," he
turned and walked with me for a few yards.

        "Doc, I've been thinking about you.  I've decided I want to become
a college teacher.  Think it's worth it?"

        "You're asking that question?"

        "Well, if it's worth it, what do you make?"

        I deliberately hesitated as if I had to think about it.  Then, I
shot back, "A difference!"

        "I know, but....."

        I cut him off.  "No 'buts.' Go to class." I mischievously smirked
as I baited the hook and turned into the stairwell and lumbered up the
stairs.

        I was hoping it wasn't the end of our conversation.  It wasn't.
He took the bait. A couple of hours later, as he came into my office,
he shot at me, "Your answer is not what I meant."

        "It's what I meant."

        "I want to be a success, too."

        "Be significant first."

        "What's the difference?"

        I spread out my right hand.  "My painted pinky nail, and Kim's
letter in my wallet, is the difference."  Then, I picked up an envelope
from my landfill of a desk.  "See this letter?  I got it Monday from a
student.  I've read the ink off of it.  And, I my eyes tear up every time.
It's going up there on that wall of my 'sacred objects of my teaching.'"

        We talked.

        "Now, I'm going to keep you up all night with a question or two.
This is your assignment.  Which is the best measure of having made a
difference and being a significance, trophies or testimonials?  Is it
being important or doing what is important whether anyone knows or
recognizes it or not?  Is it a long resume listing your degrees, titles,
positions, publications, awards, grants, and presentations; or is it a
collection of poems, paintings, letters, and objects from grateful and
affectionate students testifying to the difference you have made in their
lives?"

        "All this sounds too simple and easy."

        "You've got it.  It is never simple and easy even if it sounds
that way.  The 'simple' is always complicated and the 'easy' is always
challenging.  It's always a conflict between being successful and being
significant.  Believe me, I know.  That conflict is almost inevitable.
And far too many people succumb to the pressures to win at almost any
cost.  You see it in todays headlines in athletics, business, and you see
it in academia.  You have to always stay on the edge; you always have to
be alert;  and you never can get complacent.  Otherwise, you'll loose the
battle.  And, if you do cede defeat, you'll become preoccupied with
getting those trophies as any cost.  They will become the most important
things in your life, and your educational integrity--not to mention
students--will be sacrificed.  You want to remain the captain of your
ship.  Being a teacher is too important to be merely a passenger."

        "Why can't you be both a success and significant."

        "You can.  It's easy for people to proclaim they have; it's
something else to actually do it.  The ones that have done it are rare.
I know and know of a few of those humble people who have put their money
where their mouth is.  They have been able to reconcile the time- and
energy-demanding pressure and desire to be a professorial winner with the
heavy and equally demanding teaching responsibilities of helping people.
They are able to remember, always remember, which is first and foremost no
matter what anyone else thinks or says.  When I was tutoring the UNC
basketball team, I saw how Dean Smith never let records and championships
go to his head.  For him, it was far more about developing life skills and
character than it was merely about winning basketball games.  For him it
was always about people instead of basketball players.  He saw his players
as sacred individuals, not just tall, hunks of meat.  His players saw him
as a coach, father, friend to each of them, even the ones who warmed the
bench."

        "Damn, Dr. Schmier, you're a dreamer.  Be real!"

        "I am real.  I'm a real dreamer.  Don't ever underestimate the
power of a dream!  A dream is the Draino that keeps your spirit free of
clogging sludge.  Someone once said that one positive dream is more
powerful than a hundred realities.  If you don't dream, if you don't have
a vision, you'll find that it will be so easy to drift off course from
wanting to make a lasting difference and be significant to accepting
passing and quickly forgotten success.  You will live on and having
significance beyond the classroom in the lives and memories of people, not
in resumes."

        We talked some more.

        I hope Mac didn't sleep much last night.

Make it a good day.

                                                       --Louis--


Louis Schmier                     www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History             www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA  31698                           /~\        /\ /\
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