I started applying for a new job today which would just change my status in the collegiate environment. I am not sure anything will actually change. I know they GOBNet has a special case they want to slide into that position. I am applying to see if they do that anyway despite the fact that I'm better qualified and a better fit. I'm also applying because the previous incumbent of this position asked me to apply for it and take his slot. He has done more for my career than anyone else I met as an adult, and I'm curious to see where this goes.
Roger is the reason I got a teaching slot. We started interacting on what appears to be coincidence when his predecessor went out for a prolonged but fabricated illness. At that time, he was offered the teaching slot but had a better and different gig lined up, and so he suggested I contact the department chair instead. Within a week, I was in the classroom. Since then, Roger and I have interfaced regularly and periodically, and although we do not agree on politics and religion, for some reason he esteems me greatly, so much so that when he obtained a better position he insisted that I apply to take his place.
He continues to work for my benefit. When I ran into him and the selection committee chairman a few weeks ago, Roger sang my praises to this other person and even suggested obliquely that it was a good opportunity to give me a raise for my fidelity and performance over the years. If I obtain this job and a concomitant raise commensurate with my value as an asset, it will be at least partially because of Roger's patronage on my behalf.
I have learned to be open when I meet people. I have met friends I didn't expect to meet and kept friends I didn't expect to keep. In fact, the people who should remain true and faithful did anything but. I still have zero close friends of my own Faith, and the friends I have are all "accidental" and completely unexpected. You never know who you might meet and who might really prove to be a boon in your life. I told my hiking buddy last weekend that I don't know how I would have survived the losses I experienced last summer without him. I don't really know what I'd do on the weekend if we didn't go hiking together 44 weekends per year. He was a friend of a former student who thought we should meet, and I thank God that we did. Even my best friend is someone I met "by chance" when we both appeared as witnesses at a civil trial and found we had lots in common, including our opinions about the defendant, for whom he appeared as a character reference!
Just inside the door, I have a parchment on which the following advice appears: Enjoy and be honest. Be observant and patient. Most of all be open. I try when I meet people not to write them off and write them out. I may decide they are not people to date, people on whom to spend a lot of time, or people I want to invite into my house, but I know not to judge books by their covers. The people who ought to be important in my life are now completely absent. All the women who ostensibly reciprocated my affections and love either ignore me or desire the benefits of my association without any obligations. Unlike them, Roger has continued to look out for me and help me find things with which to better myself, and so he has done more for my career, my personality, my prospects, and my positioning than any woman to whom I am not related.
I know that I'm an awesome guy. Although I don't parade my life per se on Facebook, I do cool things and visit cool places and engage in cool things that gladden my eye and please my heart. Furthermore, I have everything that people ought to desire in a friend and a help meet. Besides that, I have a Benefactor who has made sure that for seven years I have enjoyed Seven of Eight without interruption. I thank God for those blessings. As much as it pains me to be alone, I know that I am better off than many others, even if the GOBNet decides to stonewall my professional development. I know I have no reason to expect His friendship. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but for some reason He continues to work to my benefit and counsels me only, "You trusted me then; trust me now", so I do. Last time I did I was led to meet Roger, and that has blessed my life greatly. Others came and went, but He remains, and so I stay loyal to Him because God has never let me down, even when He forces me to wait longer than I like to reap what I sow.
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