Sucker Punched

[Ucpaint]

I recently was offered a teaching position with a district where I formerly taught but was denied due to the discovery of a felony I received over 30 years ago.  I feel hopeless ow and think that deferred adjudication is a joke.  I was so excited about the income and now that I feel like my career is over and I am completely overwhelmed and depressed.    I don't think I have a chance at anything good in my life and my stomach feels hollow.  I am so sad and wonder if this has happened to anyone reading this.

[persephonedemeter]

I am sorry that your past has come back to haunt you in auch a backhanded way. I think a lot of us have skeletons in our closets that prevent us from seeking public positions serving populations of people that may be embarassing should ot be brought out in the light, and I know that when it has to do with educating our young, considered a vulnerable population, the caliber of the person we entrust that care to comes under scrutiny and can be discerned in a very harsh light and with the thought or under the guise of protection.

I think what you do now with the rejection is what counts, not relating or sinking into it. I wonder if it is just the felony itself or whether or not it was disclosed in the first place. Still, for them to give you the opportunity by offering the job to you in the first place speaks alot about who you are now and what you accomplished and made of yourself since then,

I doubt anyone is the same person who they were 30 years ago, and jusging and basing a decision on what that person did 30 years ago seems to go against the whole purpose and principle of education itself, which is to better one self and open up the doors to our potential, possibilities and improve our lives and the world we live in for the better.

I would also expect that what we teach others is that each person counts for something and every person can learn and grow; otherwise, why bother teaching and why bother learning. For that matter, why bother sending people to prison or send children to schools if they do not have the capacity to change and grow? Sure, some people just don't get it and are hardheaded, but still, we can only hope that one day, they will learn something, and hopefully, it will be before their life ends, and hopefully, they don't have disciples. Generally, thank heavens, people eventually learn and change.

It is also what we do with our failures and setbacks, and how we view them. Progress and change does not happen when we allow oppression to happen, within ourselves and by others. I like 2 quotes from Thomas Edition to keep a healthy and empowering view on failure and setbacks, 1) Our  greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. 2) “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Stand up and advocate youself and speak out by sending them a well thought out and well prepared letter thanking them for consideration of the position and the recognition that you have achieved and accomplished much in 30 years as an educator and a member of society, and that you  exemplied what the principles of education can do when a person believes and acts on it. Those principles multiply and pass on to others, especially to the people who follow our guidance and teach us how to learn and work with each other. Keep your feelings out of the letter and be respectful but positively strong. Don't be insulting and treat them like equals. You want to basically show them what sort of person they missed out and lost  in their organization. Write it in a way that you would want to receive yourself that would give you pause that maybe,  you were mistaken. Tell them you would still be interested in working with them shouod another opportunity arise. Just remember. A lot of great and successful people were rejected at one time or another. Abraham Lincoln was one. You are in good company.

Who knows if the person they chose over you will work out. At least, you can keep the door open still to that opportunity by making sure that they know you are still there and that you cast a different light on yourself by challenging the basis of their decision and giving them insight to the person who you are. Who knows? Just by doing that simple thing, it will give you strength, maybe unlock other possibilities and better opportunities, and at the very least, will lessen the depression at least, by a notch, Depression has a way of kicking you when you are down, and it enjoys being left alone with negativity to encourage it to stay there and keep  you stuck, and as you put it, smarting from the "sucker punch."  

Btw, if you do write a letter, make sure you sit on it, read it, and revise it to something you can live with and know that it will not "bite you back," close doors on you, nail you to a cross, or essentially, make you regret doing so. It has to be something the receiver would want to read and realize you are a great person they would want to work with. Don't forget to keep a copy.

[persephonedemeter]

Awkward sentence. Obviously, I didn't proofread before sending. I meant the skeletons in the closet could be embarassing to us and to those who employ us.

Also, if you did not disclose because you didn't think it matter since it was so long ago or you were afraid they would lock you out of consideration at the time, then admit that you were wrong in not disclosing when directed to do so in the application. Leave it at that.

[persephonedemeter]

Edison not Edition.