The perfect job

It is not surprising for people of my generation to have tried more than one job. With the number of choices we have, it is to be expected that we dabble around a bit, go through a bit of muck until we find our treasure-our place in this world. The problem is, the search is taking longer than we expected. And most wonder if the end will ever be in sight. If that one passion that will drive us for the rest of our lives will ever be found. If the 'perfect job' is just a myth.

The other day, I listened to a talk of a man who has been teaching for 55 years. (That's half a century longer than I've been teaching.) He is turning 79. (That's more than three times my age) And he has the energy of a twenty-one year old. (That's 5 years younger than I am.) His name is Onofre Pagsanghan. And his passion for teaching is even more vibrant than the idealism of a fresh graduate. And from him I confirmed, that the idea of a perfect job is, in fact, a myth.

For he does not see teaching as a job. But a vocation. An answer to a divine call. A commitment to a life of faith. It is not job that he is rooted to. Not the millions of lesson plans that he has undoubtedly completed over the past 50 years. Not even the thousands of students that have come in and out of his life. But it is the Teacher that gives him his fire. He is not ashamed to admit that it is Jesus who is his reason for teaching. His reason for being. There is no dichotomy between his work and his faith. His love for the other and his love for God. He quotes Mother Teresa and St. Ignatius alongside Auguste Rodin and Burt Bacharach. He is not the half-full, half-empty kind of man. He has, instead, managed to squeeze out every last drop out of life.

All this I figured out after listening to him for a couple of hours. Who knows what else I might have learned if I actually got to know him or if I had been his student? I am certainly aware that he is by no means a perfect man. But his very presence stands out across a landscape of uncertainty and ambiguity. My generation has unfortunately been led to believe that truth is relative, commitment unrealistic, religion a hoax and love a fairytale. Some celebrities take pride in saying they are 'spiritual but not religious.' Many politicians separate what they say in church and what they do in congress. People flit around from job to job, person to person, and worse, from one new age religion to another, as though mulling over all the choices of a multiple choice test but never really taking a risk on one definite answer.

And yet here is a man who goes against the tide. Who takes pride in the fact that he is nothing without his God. That his work is united to his faith. That he made a choice 55 years ago and stands by it today. That he took the road less traveled. That he made a difference. That he continues to make a difference.

We will be asked to make those choices pretty soon. (If we haven't made them already) And when we do decide to make them, perhaps it is best to listen to the call within instead of the opportunities that the world offers, to ask how we can serve instead of what the best deal is, to explore ways of using our talents for others instead of exploiting them, and to choose what is true instead of what is popular. Otherwise, we might just end up waking up at 50 only to realize that, as Mr. Pagsi so eloquently reminded us, we were too busy making a living to actually make a life.