It has been brought to my attention several times now that in this life, this human life, the best thing you can ever do besides finding a woman or man to love with all of your heart, the type of person you'd move to Greenland for or take a job as a garbageman, is to find a way to make money (money) doing something that you love. You can't just kind of like it, you have to love it. If you accomplish this you have maxed out your potential as a human being. Or rather, if you accomplish these two things you have reached the proverbial summit, though in some cases the summit is probably more like Mt. Townsend in the Olympics or even Toe Jam Hill on Bainbridge rather than the mighty beasts of K2 or Mount Everest.
How do you know when you love what you do, and, is it truly possible?
The answer to the first question has an unsettleingly amount to do with Grey's Anatomy, and the answer to the second question is "maybe". The reason I mention Grey's Anatomy in relation to the answer to the first question is that when you're a teacher of English (English teacher) in Latin America you come across a startling amount of students who only know Seattle because of Grey's Anatomy. Not because of Microsoft or the Space Needle or the rain, but because of a semi wretched show about fake doctors which doesn't really even have anything to do with Seattle. But even more overwhelming are the number of students who don't know where Seattle is, who pronounce it "Suraddle", and not quite as overwhelming but also just as devastating are the students who not only don't know where the Emerald City is, but don't know where New York is, or Miami, or Washington DC, or Belle Fourche, South Dakota, or Paris, Texas. When you come across these students you no longer want to be an English teacher. You want to jump out the window. Or you want to be a geography teacher. But it makes you wonder. And it also makes you realize: "I don't love my job".
Which is why, when I have the means, I will go to Buenaventura, take the first lancha to a deserted island, and live off the land. I will be a coconut farmer, in that I will be near the coconut trees and cultivating them by fertilizing around the bases of the trees, and I will also of course supplement my diet with a steady amount of mojarra, or "snapper", to the layperson. So that is why the title of this blog post is coconut farmer, because that is the current plan, and an occupation I think I could truly love.
How do you know when you love what you do, and, is it truly possible?
The answer to the first question has an unsettleingly amount to do with Grey's Anatomy, and the answer to the second question is "maybe". The reason I mention Grey's Anatomy in relation to the answer to the first question is that when you're a teacher of English (English teacher) in Latin America you come across a startling amount of students who only know Seattle because of Grey's Anatomy. Not because of Microsoft or the Space Needle or the rain, but because of a semi wretched show about fake doctors which doesn't really even have anything to do with Seattle. But even more overwhelming are the number of students who don't know where Seattle is, who pronounce it "Suraddle", and not quite as overwhelming but also just as devastating are the students who not only don't know where the Emerald City is, but don't know where New York is, or Miami, or Washington DC, or Belle Fourche, South Dakota, or Paris, Texas. When you come across these students you no longer want to be an English teacher. You want to jump out the window. Or you want to be a geography teacher. But it makes you wonder. And it also makes you realize: "I don't love my job".
Which is why, when I have the means, I will go to Buenaventura, take the first lancha to a deserted island, and live off the land. I will be a coconut farmer, in that I will be near the coconut trees and cultivating them by fertilizing around the bases of the trees, and I will also of course supplement my diet with a steady amount of mojarra, or "snapper", to the layperson. So that is why the title of this blog post is coconut farmer, because that is the current plan, and an occupation I think I could truly love.
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