I was at an evening parents’ committee meeting at my kids’ school. It was the first I had attended. Someone rightfully asked everyone to introduce themselves. Some people were very brief, including me:
I’m Eoin. My kid is in that class. I’m interested in boosting the local community since I’m a neighbour to the school.
Afterwards, I thought what a shallow intro that is. How about a something with more life?
I’m Eoin. I’ve a kid at this school. I live locally. We moved into the area for this school because a Gaelscoil was important. We moved away from where we were because of my fear of river flooding. When I was moving to the area, your old principle threatened me because I questioned why people didn’t have to push their cars into the school carpark when they insisted that I walk my bike in to deliver a letter. I’m interested in the making the local community more connected and that means un-emphasising the rights of drivers in the residential area where kids are growing up. I work as a software developer, and I enjoy the challenges that bring me, that I can learn every day. My career is to learn how to address challenges. I also have a passion for helping people practice to speak the Irish language, although I don’t like to push that on anyone. I believe in living a life with integrity following principles, and that’s half the struggle in life. No one on this planet was first asked if they wanted to be here, so we must each make the decision to make the most out of life. Although I can get impatient with things around me, I know that I should concentrate my efforts on my circle of control, which is mostly improving myself and not trying to improve those around me.
How would you describe yourself, with a bit of honesty mixed in?