“Momma always says there’s an awful lot you could tell about a person by their shoes… where they’re going… where they’ve been. I’ve worn lots of shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard I could remember my first pair of shoes.”
– Forrest Gump
Like Forrest Gump, I have worn lots of shoes, every pair of which has taken me on a rich and rewarding journey. And at the end of each journey, even the ill-fitting shoes were comfortable and could never be abandoned without some personal angst. But like the life moments they created just for me, the shoes had to be retired and new hiking trails explored. It didn’t matter that sometimes the shoes did not fit well, or that they were not always right for the journey, or that there were moments when I may have been slipshod or even barefooted. It was more important that with each journey I was better prepared for the rough terrain ahead.
My excitement was as much for the journey as it was for the destination!
With the benefit of forethought I might have been able to enrich my experiences and adventures. However, to indulge in such dreams after-the-fact is to waste good energy on what-might-have-been. I prefer now to savor the excitement of every new moment and ponder what might lie around the next bend in the road.
This, I believe, begins to describe my philosophy on life and gives some insight into who I am!
THE FORMATIVE YEARS
I had the good fortune of having spent the first 14 years of my life in a small outport village in Newfoundland. The atmosphere was one of quiet calm and a virtual crime-free ethos built around neighborly fellowship and a strong attachment to nature. There were no riches. There were no luxuries. There was lots of love. This, I believe, shaped me into a person who cares and genuinely empathized with others who experience traumatic events in their lives. I am sure that this environment had a profound effect on shaping my character similar in ways that different environments in small-village Canada had for others of my generation.
These were the formative years when I was practically barefooted or at the very best, slipshod.
However, this was truly a positive beginning. In addition to shaping my character, my outport upbringing had a profound impact on developing my resolve to experience true fulfillment in my life. It motivated me to excel in school and enter university at the early age of 16 years. And although I was never sure how I should achieve my personal career goal, I always had a vague, ill-defined desire to help others. This early uncertainty compelled me to pursue a career as a teacher which, even if it was not my calling, I hoped it would lead me in the right direction.
So caught up was I with finding my way that after two years of university, I took an opportunity for summer work as an orderly in a Toronto Mental Hospital followed by a one-year teaching post at a predominately Inuit school in Labrador. The first job I pursued because I thought my future might lie in clinical psychology (for which I had acquired an interest at university) and the second to explore my interest in teaching.
EARLY CAREER
I returned to university and finished my Bachelor of Arts in Education and accepted a teaching post at a Junior High school in St John’s, Newfoundland. During this period I was also able to finish my second degree, a Bachelor of Science.
Then in 1972, I married and became domesticated.
Although I enjoyed teaching, I soon learned that the age group was not right for me and when the opportunity presented itself four years later, I accepted a teaching assignment at a local vocational school (now a campus of College of the North Atlantic). After one year and at the young age of 26 years, I was appointed Principle of the campus.
Also, it was during this period our two children were born.
My desire to help others now took on a new direction. On a volunteer basis, I started the Baie Verte Economic Development Association, an organization which was part of the Rural Development Movement that characterized grassroots Newfoundland of the 70s and 80s. It was one of 51 other such regional groups that sprang up throughout the island and in Labrador.
During my ten years at the college campus, I was involved voluntarily with the Rural Development Movement and spent eight years on the Board of Directors of Newfoundland and Labrador Rural Development Council (NLRDC), the parent body for all development associations throughout the province. These eight years included one year as NLRDC President.
In addition, during this same period I served on the Board of Directors of Newfoundland Farm Products Corporation, a provincial crown corporation; and served as a professional educator on the Training Advisory Team for the Offshore Petroleum Impact Committee for the then-premier, Brian Peckford.
This experience cultivated in me a strong interest in business and together with my parallel experience as the chief administrator at a college campus, started me on a two-pronged approach to satisfying my caring-and-helping nature. It occurred to me that I could take my experience as an educator and my new-found interest in commerce and apply my skills in the business world.
My first major experience in business came with opening, in the city of St John’s, one of its earliest private trade schools. My partner and I sold the college to a Toronto franchise chain a little over three years later.
This was followed by a period of private consulting and, in 1990, an opportunity to enter the Mining Industry as an Employee Development Officer presented itself. Since that time my career has been devoted to Mining, Pulp and Paper, Oil Industry Construction and Aboriginal Administration.
I cannot complete this self-portrait, however, without paying tribute to the many good places, people and cultures I have encountered along the way. From the cold of Canada’s frozen North to the dusty summer heat of the Gobi Desert, from the rarefied environment atop the Tien Shen Mountains to the plastic walls of underground salt mines, I have come to appreciate life. Having worn the wool felt Kalpak hats of the Kyrgyz tribesmen, the woolen Del jackets of the Mongol herders, the Mukluk boots of Canada’s Inuit and the Moccasin slippers of North American Indians, I have caught a glimpse of their wisdom and the richness of their cultures.
MY NEW CAREER
After discarding numerous pairs of shoes, I now get to wear loafers more than ever before. I have shed the 9 to 5 routine and can finally enjoy working on my terms. Now I truly get to pick the trails I hike. What awaits me around the next bend will be determined largely by my own commitments, planning, and determination. I, and I alone, will be responsible for the results.
With the lessons learned and the wisdom gained, I have no doubts about completing the ending chapters of my life mission with positive results and deep personal satisfaction. Without my past experiences and adventures with family, friends and colleagues, this would not be possible.
I leave you with this wonderful quote by Robert A. Heinlein that beautifully illustrates my driving force and life passion:
“One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.”
– Robert A. Heinlein
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