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Epiphany?

Posted by Stuart at 05:12 PM on May 12, 2003

I started the day at sunrise with a walk along the Ko Samet shoreline, alternating between scampering over rocky boulders and strolls along smooth white sand beaches. As the sun rose and the light changed from blue to yellow to white, I was thinking about my favorite recent topic: What the heck am I doing with my life?

I was alone except for two small black dogs who amazed me with their ability to climb over the huge rock outcrops. I would stretch and reach and climb and jump and when I turned around they would be standing there on their short little legs and looking up at me with puppy dog eyes that said, "I will follow you to the ends of the earth."

When I returned to the guesthouse I had breakfast and tackled the stack of papers I brought along with me to grade. After finishing those, I turned to a few articles I brought along as research for an article my boss wants me to write for the school magazine.

Halfway through one article about how entreprenurialism is the key to help developing countries break out of their cycle of poverty and how teaching technology skills is the key to making small businesses successful, the epiphany struck. As I said, I have been thinking about where my life is heading. So far I have been thinking about starting my own business. There is certainly a lot of opportunity here in Thailand for something like that.

But lately I have been realizing that I am really enjoying teaching. Perhaps a permanent move to academia is in my future? Perhaps my approach to business has been from the wrong direction? If I had to chose between starting a business and making lots of money and helping 10 people in a developing country start their own business and make lots of money, I think I will chose the latter.

And there you have it. Where will it lead?