Writing your Final Resume
“It’s hard to know when to respond to the seductiveness of the world and when to respond to its’ challenge. If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But, I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day”.
~ E. B. White
Somewhere around 1970 I came across the notion of self-help support groups for the unemployed. They reported remarkable results so I set the task of translating this into a workbook for young adults: Job Search Education. The success of that title brought me some 20+ book contracts of various topics from leisure wellness, to intergenerational programing, to mixology. It’s been a grand trip…and now as I take step back in the last quarter of my life I have found the value in writing one last “resume”. It is directed not at future employers; it is simply a summation for myself. It may inspire you to do the same.
I plotted out an outline that contained the following categories:
- Student & Early Accomplishments
- Adult Work Experiences
- Fun or Humorous (magic, theater, paintings)
- Volunteer Work
- My Favorite Saying
Without further ado about nothing (See Shakespeare’s play with that title), I’ll proceed with samples and words.
Ages 9 to 12 performed in neighborhood magic shows. A reporter at the San Fransciso Chronicle read about my exploits and came out to do a half page interview with me. Now that was magic!
Back in those formative times, each son had a chore to do no the weekend. Mine was to clear out and sweep the garage, another brother toiled in the garden, and the youngest (lucky duck) when food shopping with our mother.
Back in those daze the only sure path to a successful adulthod began with going to college. It was a very competitie scene. I responded by earning a 4.0 GPA in a very competitive school. Anhd that landed me in the brand new Univerisity of California in Santa Cruz California.
The summer before heading off to college, I go togethr a small group of 10-Speed bike owners and we planned a 150 mile bike ride to Carmel and Big Sur California.We were nuts, and duly faced various challenges from bike break downs, hitching rides with drunks, to be offered a night in jail for trying to sleep on the empty Carmel beach. (Instead we head to the only open public space, the city library. Each boy found a 5 inch wide book, placed it upon two other books, can preteneded it was our pillow for the night. The librarians were great, and let us sleep.
The WonderfulyWikipedia described the recession that followed in 1970 as follows:
It was a prolonged period of economic stagflation—characterized by high inflation and high unemployment—primarily driven by the oil crisis and the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.
Again, I found my timing was perfect. My favorite uncle Alex found me a job in New York City. We drove across the country in a VW bug in the middle of winter. Another adventure added to the list. I began work in a downtown bank. We tried to form the first bank union with the support of a progressive union.
I then moved to New Jersey to begin work as a machinist trainee. That was my great introduction to the promise and the short comings of the American working class. I had been writing in those days about the merger of art and technology. In fact a group in New York formed EATS (experiments in arts and technology). All these exciting ideas and experiences landed an invitation to begin a PhD program at West Virginia Technology program.
It was as if I could do no wrong. But God had written other chapters for me yet to read.
It was on the East coast that I’d be visited several times by the infamous FBI who were busy framing liberals and leftists for anything they thought might stick. (Most of their fears were based on the cross-dressing J. Edgar Hoovers paranoid delusions.)
Over time I realized that I loved both teaching and writing. I think each day was seasoned with these two ingredients. In the beginning, I helped pioneer early efforts to include people with handicaps on stage in theater products. (Previously all those parts went to able-bodied folks performing as though handicapped.) My play Take A Card, Any Card was performed in various venues across the country, including my home town of Tumwater, WA.
I would later earn two degrees in teaching. One was in Industrial Arts Education and the other was in Special Education. I was offered scholarships for Special Education because I began integrating special needs kids in my shop classes by using a peer-tutoring system.
I kept up my painting and poetry. And my lead professor at Portland State University would eventually ask to purchase my “self-portrait” called Flying Fingers.
Later, I worked for the Washington State agency that coordinated volunteering. It was another unique experience that put me in touch with all different kinds of people.
I retired early with my own particular disability about 25 years ago. (Best career move I ever made, but involuntarily).
I’d like to conclude this review and reflection by sharing some of My Favorite Sayings
Favorite quotes
The invisible part of me is not old. In aging we gain as well as lose—our spiritual forces expand. A life of the heart and mind takes over as our physical force ebbs away.
~ 90-year-old woman
But where is what I started for, so long ago? And why is it yet unfound.
~ Walt Whitman
The greatest distance we have yet to cover still lies within us.
~ Author unknown
If you want to make God laugh…tell him your plans.
~ Yiddish saying
Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
~ Isaac Asimov
- Your final job interview is with yourself – by Martin Kimeldorf - September 12, 2025
- Footprints In Time: Generation Reflections – by Martin Kimeldorf - February 6, 2023
- Vincent Van Gogh and the Art of Longevity – by Martin Kimeldorf - May 4, 2022
This reflective resume is deeply inspiring! It beautifully blends personal achievements with meaningful life lessons, showing how a diverse journey shapes ones identity. The honesty and passion make it relatable and thought-provoking.