Now I was fortunate to be in a large school for most of my time and was given different assignments which made the career interesting. I was asked to teach industrial Arts once. That would have been way out of my comfort zone. I was also asked to teach music once and that would have been sad. I'm not in the least musical. The guy who offered me that job had not done his homework.
Now this was teaching! I was on Great Bear Lake and got a chance to do some fishing. This is a 34 pound lake trout. At the time teachers did not get a summer off . We got a two week holiday. However, the pay was very good.
However, there is one position that I turned down and I have always regretted it. I was very active in the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) . I was familiar with staff officers.
A new president took over. She did not like flying in small planes . She was not comfortable in northern situations. She knew that I had much northern experience and was familiar flying in small planes. She asked me if I would do her appearances in the northern part of Alberta. I turned it down very quickly . It would have meant being away from home for quite a bit of time. It would have meant extra work as I would have to make sub plans and sometimes I would get home very late and have to teach the next day. I also felt that the northern people deserved to have the president visit them.
So at the time it was easy to not accept the position. Over the years I've continued the think that it would have been a very interesting position. Bonnie was president for her two year term and then my job would have been over. I have regrets about not taking the job but I know it was the right thing to do.
So have you had to turn down a very interesting opportunity?
