Yesterday I read the online version of my hometown newspaper, the Livingston Enterprise. I learned that my former high school English teacher, Roger Powalisz, is going to retire.

While I was in Mr. Powalisz’s class I read The Odyssey, The Canterbury Tales, Hamlet and a score of other classic books. He made us write essays about what we read and he made us think. He’d urge us to come up with questions about what we were reading. “Without the questions you’ll never find the answers,” he’d say.

Long after high school I was unhappy working in the accounting field. I didn’t know what to do. Then I remembered what Mr. Powalisz said. “Without the questions you’ll never find the answers.” So I started thinking of questions. What would make me happy? What was I good at? What were my skills? Did I need a new job or a new career? When the task seemed overwhelming I reminded myself that I didn’t need to know all the answers. I just needed to keep asking questions. The answers eventually came.

Now I work as a website developer and I still use his advice. When the code won’t work I ask myself questions. Is there another way to do this? Has anyone else ever done this? Where does the problem start?

While I do ask a lot of questions now there’s one that I don’t like to think about. What would I have done without Mr. Powalisz?

Thanks so much for everything Mr. Powalisz!