Yesterday, I had the honor and privilege of presenting to a group of teachers in their beginning-of-year in-service training. I spoke on the importance of being on-purpose teachers so that their students could have them as exemplars, thereby becoming on-purpose students. Following are a few of the points I made, using quotations by some prominent people. “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder–a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having

But I’ve also seen this temptation arise occasionally in my writing career, and I was reminded of the lesson by an article in the latest issue of The Writer. In times of discouragement, when rejections seem to multiply like the proverbial rabbits, when acceptances are as rare as the proverbial hound’s teeth (whatever that means!), I find myself looking at the apparent successes of other writers and thereby being distracted from my own projects. I find myself envying those who

The other morning, while I was toiling through my regular routine on the treadmill and struggling with arthritis-pained knees, toes, and wrists, I found myself looking at the bookcase on the opposite wall. There, on the top shelf, were several anthologies and other books that include some of my own writings. Behind me, I remembered the huge notebook filled with tear sheets of my published articles. (I say remembered because I didn’t turn to look at it. I once learned a painfu