Our World Needs the Best Teachers and Healers... My best teachers were not in the classroom and my best healers were not always in the medical profession. My father and mother taught me things you cannot measure with a test like patience, discipline, and self-reliance. Nurses and doctors labeled my physical and mental impairments and treated them with the best science had to offer. But, they did not heal my body and mind. Healing came from within. It took time and was nurtured by love and nature. This book introduces you to the people, jobs, places, and schools that made me who I am today. You'll meet my devoted wife and our greatest accomplishments, Christopher our son and Rachel our daughter. I share sad and funny anecdotes growing up as the oldest son with four brothers and two sisters. You will learn what it takes to be a survivor of depression for 33 years, cancer for 10 years, and a middle age public school teacher for 8 years. Share the highlights from 35 years of public service and compare experiential learning in the outdoors to more traditional classroom and lecture hall learning in an Ivy League school, graduate school, and Catholic elementary and secondary schools. Learn the importance of buying memories rather than stuff as I take you to parks, and natural areas in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Tanzania, Africa. Discover why I left the teeming masses of the East Coast to go West.