I was a sophomore in high school long ago and when my mother went to the school to attend the parent teacher conference. She met with my English teacher and he told my mother I had excellent English skills and could attend college and make a very good English teacher.
Of course at the time nothing could have been further from my mind than becoming an English teacher. I had more important things to think about, namely girls, getting a good job, becoming an electronic technician and getting to work on radios, or maybe become a car mechanic.
I have always been a letter writer (when we used stamps to mail them). People seemed to enjoy them, or maybe they just liked getting a letter in the mail. I wrote poems since high school and still do. Since computers have been around I have written things most days of my life. I wonder now if I had followed "the path less taken," gone to college, gotten a degree in English Literature, would I have become an established writer? Of course at this point I will never know. I would have missed out on a lot of exciting times in the navy. Probably never have fulfilled my dream of working on radios. One thing I do know is I would have graduated almost a year before I reenlisted in the navy, so when I got my draft notice to join Uncle Sam's army just days after I reenlisted in the navy and I came home on leave, I would have been inducted into the army. That may have led to me becoming one of those second lieutenants (with my degree) and that may have put me in a position of sending young soldiers to their deaths in Vietnam. I might not have ever been able to get over that, for all I know I would have been with them in a pile of body bags. I don't think I would have liked that at all. I would have missed out on a lot of life that I have enjoyed. I know I would have honored my draft notice. Until I am sitting here today writing this post, I had never thought about that. I suppose the hand in the sky was watching over me and I didn't even know it.
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.
Of course at the time nothing could have been further from my mind than becoming an English teacher. I had more important things to think about, namely girls, getting a good job, becoming an electronic technician and getting to work on radios, or maybe become a car mechanic.
I have always been a letter writer (when we used stamps to mail them). People seemed to enjoy them, or maybe they just liked getting a letter in the mail. I wrote poems since high school and still do. Since computers have been around I have written things most days of my life. I wonder now if I had followed "the path less taken," gone to college, gotten a degree in English Literature, would I have become an established writer? Of course at this point I will never know. I would have missed out on a lot of exciting times in the navy. Probably never have fulfilled my dream of working on radios. One thing I do know is I would have graduated almost a year before I reenlisted in the navy, so when I got my draft notice to join Uncle Sam's army just days after I reenlisted in the navy and I came home on leave, I would have been inducted into the army. That may have led to me becoming one of those second lieutenants (with my degree) and that may have put me in a position of sending young soldiers to their deaths in Vietnam. I might not have ever been able to get over that, for all I know I would have been with them in a pile of body bags. I don't think I would have liked that at all. I would have missed out on a lot of life that I have enjoyed. I know I would have honored my draft notice. Until I am sitting here today writing this post, I had never thought about that. I suppose the hand in the sky was watching over me and I didn't even know it.
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.
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