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What I'll Do Next
After Four Decades as a Columnist, It's Time for Baby
Steps
By William Raspberry
Monday, December 26, 2005
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
So, what's next?
I've been wrestling with the question,
in one form or another, ever since I decided that the
end of this year would be the end of my 39 years as
a newspaper columnist.
For years I've had two nightmare scenarios.
In the first, I'm sitting in a wheelchair on the deck
of a luxury cruise ship, wearing a lap robe against
the chill -- and wondering where the devil I am. That
is to say, I've feared that after reaching the point
where I have the financial means to enjoy myself, with
no further need to scrimp and save, I will discover
that it's really too late for enjoyment. The second
nightmare has me leaving my office horizontally, either
dead or debilitated, without having had a real chance
to discover who else I am, or what I might have done
next.
The precondition for even considering
the what-next question is having the energy to do something
-- which is one reason I've decided to retire now rather
than too late.
The next step -- or at any rate, my
next step -- involves two more questions: What is worth
doing? What is within my reach?
The answers can be as grand or as humble
as inclination and resources dictate. Jimmy Carter's
next step was befitting of his knowledge and influence
as a former American president. He merely set out to
improve the world: to feed the hungry; house the homeless;
and promote democracy, health, economic security and
peace abroad. He and his Carter Center have done a lot
of good on all these fronts. He may, in fact, be better
known -- and surely is more universally well-regarded
-- for his work with Habitat for Humanity than for his
service as the 39th president.
For others, including some neighbors
of mine, the next step might involve cleaning and planting
a tiny neighborhood lot.
I've recently come to know William
C. Nelsen, whose next step was to sign up with the , an organization
of former college heads who make themselves available
on an interim basis for colleges and universities that
need executive help. He's now the temporary vice president
of development at North Carolina Wesleyan College while
also a leader of a national consortium called the Learning
Community Coalition.
For retired educators, the next step
might be mentoring young teachers or tutoring schoolchildren.
For members of the Service Corps of Retired Executives
(SCORE), it is helping small businesses gain a solid
footing. For still others, it's anything from coaching
tennis to teaching dance or arranging flowers. It comes
down to priorities that are intensely personal: What's
worth doing, and what is within my reach?
For me, the answers have been impressing
themselves on my brain for a few years now. What's worth
doing? One answer is helping to save an endangered generation
of children. I still believe in the magic of education,
a belief instilled in me by my teacher-parents. It scares
me that the parents of so many young children today
don't believe in the magic. It's almost as if they are
afraid to believe in it, afraid to dream of success
because they've become convinced that only failure is
real. They may fantasize, but they don't strive.
What's the difference? Fantasy imagines
success; striving asks: What do I do next?
I've taken it as my next-step project
to help restore the faith that education can work wonders
and to help another generation of young people learn
to ask: What's next?
But within my personal limitations.
The problem may be nationwide, but I've chosen to start
in my home town of Okolona, Miss. I've mentioned the
project -- Baby Steps -- before. It is my attempt to
renew faith in the magic of education and to spark a
faith in the efficacy of community. I believe that pulling
a community together around the future of its children
can do wonders to transform both.
The problem is that the effort is about
to outgrow my ability to fund it out of pocket. And
that brings me to my most immediate reason for stepping
down now: I need to raise money to sustain and expand
Baby Steps, and there's no way for a journalist to do
that without being involved in a conflict of interest.
And so, although I'll continue to teach
for a couple of years, I take my leave from a job that
has given me extraordinary satisfaction and pleasure
for nearly four decades. I thought you might want to
know what's next.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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