It worries me greatly that too many educators, especially school leaders, seemingly can’t wait until the day they retire. Cometh the day, they throw their hands into the air, figuratively or literally shout “hooray” and rush away, never to look back on what they have left. They are just so glad that a career which many have become burdensome, is behind them.
That to me is so sad. How awful it must be for those who are soured to the extent of wanting distance between themselves and the years committed to the educational profession.
There have been challenging, indeed harrowing times for me during 40 plus years of service to education. Thankfully there have been great times and many celebrations to savour. In retirement I am glad to have give back opportunities to a profession that has offered me so much. In my post career thinking, I set the bad times to one side and remember the many satisfiers that came my way.
Others have helped me; now it is my turn to support others by sharing as those others shared their experiences with me. It is great to be in a give back period.
EDUCATION, A LIFE FORCE 
This post strongly highlights the need for passionate teachers, who as Rumble (2009) stated want to make a difference to a child’s life. As a future-teacher, I realise that teaching will be demanding, and hard work. We will have tough days, and many I’m sure, days where we just want to run. But how happy we will be to see a sad child begin to smile, because as Slee (2012) we will make lessons fun, the scared and abused child who feels safe in our class to talk and build resilience, the selfish child who learns to share through group work. Successful teachers should leave their career with a feeling of fulfilment, because students themselves and the difference we make in their lives should be the rewards of teaching.