that's what friends are for

I'm a firm believer that we choose our friends because they fill some sort of need that we have, whether that be because they make us a better person, expand our horizons in some sense, or help us redefine who we are.

This being said, my friend Randy told me the other week that he was granted a second interview at a school district in the area. He's a teacher that I was friends with while living in Maryland.

Now landing a job in this area of Pennsylvania is extremely difficult. The public schools here pay a butt load of money...so getting a job in one is much like getting into the mafia. You either get in because you're family or because someone owes you a huge favor.

Randy falls into the category of 'neither', but yet he was given the chance to teach a mock lesson in his second interview for a high school Social Studies teacher position. I got a call from him this past weekend as he tried to come up with a lesson to teach, much like comedians try to arrange a killer set when they know that network television executives are going to be sitting in the audience.

"I'm supposed to teach a 20 minute lesson, and I have no idea what I'm going to do and all my overheads are still in Maryland" he told me.

As he told me this, I was left thinking, 'Overheads? He's got to be kidding'. So I said, "Overheads? You've got to be kidding? You get a second interview and you're planning on bringing in overheads? You may as well just lecture, write on a blackboard and prepare to wake them all up when you're done, and I don't think this is the type of lesson that's going to end up impressing them enough to hire you. You've been teaching for six years! Surely you can think of one killer lesson that you can teach for 20 minutes?!"

Randy's response to this was, "no". But then he had a brainstorm. "Maybe I'll teach a lesson on how to write a paragraph."

"I thought you were applying for a Social Studies position?" I said.

"Yeah, but you know, these schools are all about reading and writing and stuff."

I told him, "Call me crazy, but I think that they probably want you to teach something in your subject area. Well, don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll think of something"

He should have worried.

I called him the other day to see how his second interview went and he told me, "well, I couldn't think of anything to teach, so I called them up and asked to reschedule the interview."

"So when are you going now?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm not going. They told me that they wouldn't reschedule it, so I didn't bother showing up."

"You mean you just blew it off?"

"Well, yeah," Randy told me, "I mean, I couldn't think of a lesson to teach. What was I supposed to do?"

And I'm sure that in some parallel universe, this logic makes perfect sense. But it points out very clearly why Randy is a buddy of mine. Compared to him, I look like an incredibly ambitious and driven person...which makes all my loafing, laziness, and procrastinating seem insignificant. Because no matter how much of a slug I am, I can always say, "hey, I know this guy that couldn't even get himself together enough to show up for his job interview!"

So while my friends may not actually 'make' me a better person, at least they help me sustain the illusion that I am. And hey, isn't that what friends are for?