Dan Royster
Oh, The Irony of It All!
A picture is worth a thousand words. We all imagine our lives, perhaps, being lived something like the picture on the right. But it never does go quite according to plan. Instead, it winds up being something often entirely different from what we imagined it to be.
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If I had to use one word to describe my life it would be irony. My life story is full of it. Moreover, people are so hard to figure out sometimes. It would seem that to 'know thyself' would be an easy and straightforward thing to do. Not so, for me.
Today, I work with some of the brightest and most amazing young people. What I tell them here is to speak to them, to give them hope, and to know that, in real life, there are struggles.
AND NOW
FOR THE DENOUEMENT
Now I have found my dream job. The irony is how I got to this point. My first year teaching I also had two periods of opportunity classes to help seniors make their credits toward graduation. As part of teaching these classes, I had to talk to the counselors fairly often. The head counselor at the time, Sallie Phillips, told me that someday I would make an excellent counselor. At the time, I was thinking, "Ugh, I would never want to be a counselor and hear student's problems all day." I would learn many years later that the job is nothing like that. I am a proud Guidance Counselor at a high school where I work with some of the finest and most amazing young people. I get to help them, hear their struggles, help them find their values, and plan out their futures. They are the future of this great country and I am more than proud to hand it over to them.
TELL
YOURÂ
STORY
I would be true, for there are those that trust me.
I would be pure, for there are those that care.
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer.
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be friend of all, the foe, the friendless.
I would be giving, and forget the gift,
I would be humble, for I know my weakness,
I would look up, and laugh, and love and live.
