Cohort 21 Final F2F Postscript – Pioneers and Settlers

While sitting around the table at the final Cohort 21 Fact-to-face gathering yesterday, I reflected on what’s next and said that I wanted to take a sabbatical from formal PD for a bit because I wanted to think about where I have been for a while. Sensing a guilty note in my voice, one of the gathering’s guests, Rick from Hillfield Strathallan College, told me to relax and not to apologize. He suggested that I didn’t have to be a pioneer all the time and that it was okay to be a settler. Thanks, Rick! What a great way to look at this!

So often both our society and our vocation urge us to the edge and keep pushing us toward new horizons. Sure some people can live out there, always looking for the next mountain top and what’s beyond. However, some people do become settlers once they find the right spot. That does not mean they settle for what is or how things are. They create and innovate in place, tend and mend, reflect on seed time and harvest, manage lean times and those that are bountiful, hold on to some customs, traditions, and practices a little, and change with the times a little. Pioneers and settlers are both important in teaching and in the management of change. As for me, I am going to settle down and tend things for a while. I will, however, look for postcards from the edge, postcards that urge me to try new things and even to pull up stakes and move on!

Take care,

Dan B.

PS – Derek, you were right! It was too early for the last post…

3 thoughts on “Cohort 21 Final F2F Postscript – Pioneers and Settlers

  1. Thanks @dbailey for this wonderful insight! I love the notion that a settler is not just “settling” for what he already does and knows, but is instead still refining and reflecting. And paying attention for postcards from the pioneers. What a great way of thinking about this. Thank you for sharing!
    Jen

Comments are disabled.