Dylan would have been 100 years old on the 27th October 2014. With respect I am taking his renowned poem about the coming of old age as a script for this blog.

Just over a  week ago,  I had been at home before some mega travel plans leading up to Christmas. Quiet autumn days of arboreal colour and darkening skies brought a feeling of melancholy and reflection. I am starting to understand positively what retirement could be, and yet after two failed attempts the prospect still fills me with apprehension. Eight months to go year to go….

In the fury of teaching and leading schools, the thought that there might be a different and equally fulfilling way to live is hard to imagine. My life has been in the company of thousands of students and hundreds of equally hardworking and committed colleagues. If I stopped all this, what would be that circle of relationships. I don’t have a large circle of local friends and contacts to refill the void, although to be honest there is family enough.

But perhaps the problem is the challenge of finding a new and different life-fulfilling purpose? It is not that there are not lots of things to do? Filling in more of my genealogy records with more detail, learning how to paint in watercolours, walks in the countryside, helping my grandchildren reach their potential and watching them grow into full adult life, working together to create an even more stunning garden, travelling to places new around the world, finishing that book, reading more, going to the theatre and concerts more regularly….. surely that is enough. Surely that’s deserved.

Before I have the time and chance to answer these questions, I’m on a plane to New Delhi; Education Directors’ meeting at Kunskapsskolan Gurgaon – eight and a half hours away and in a totally different culture and geography. And yet, it feels that the work and mission is the same. You see the same dedication to create something different for young people as you see in all our schools across the world. You get a sense of how big this world is and yet how small the differences. I find myself having the same discussions with teachers about progress, engagement and motivation. It is a relief to talk with them about making learning better rather than an obsession you find in may English schools to grade teachers.

At the moment Gurgaon is a Pre K to grade 7 school adding an extra grade each year. I wasn’t sure how my observation of learning would be useful having focused the career from the age 11 upwards. But you know, good learning and technique transfers across. Management of learning and building independent social skills is different in focus, and its fascinating to see  our KED values interpreted at this age. You also see the special challenge for teachers who in a very traditional system now have to take a very different role. You’ll sense re my enthusiasm, and  I start to imagine giving time here… STOP .. Take stock and think. You are planning to STOP.

We met with parents there and share the big picture of Kunskapsskolan. We heard the same ambition and excitement about our programme. We talked about bringing the global dimension to our work and share progress with the first exchange programmes for teachers and students. Eighteen of them. Students talking to one another. Teachers planning together. Using the technology to build links as well as visiting. In political climate where xenophobia, and right wing dogma seems to moving forward, how important is this work to help young people understand the reality of our global interdependence. Is this too bold an aim? And certainly we would not change the way the world thinks.

However, I am reminded of my thoughts the second time I went to Tanzania some 20 years ago, and was depressed at realising how powerless you are to effect the change necessary to make a real difference In the face of such powerful political forces that harbour poverty. How dare we think we make a difference?

And yet, I soon came to realise that what you can do is make a difference where you can touch and that is enough. For those you meet and can work with, you can make a difference. In Delhi, I visited the garden where Gandhi was cremated. A peaceful yet powerful place. It reminded me of that saying of his,
“You have to be a part of the change in the world”.
So creating that understanding between those young people in just 40 schools worldwide is enough. Do the sums…how many will each of them influence.

As I start to feel warm about the impact we might have , I remind myself of the gross contradictions and hypocrisy in the world that I also aid and abet. Unlike Gandhi, many of us consistently fail to live the mission.  We were flying over Afghanistan staring down on the barren snow peaks and wondering what is the fighting for in such a barren place. And then the steward asked me if I would like an Amarula after my plane meal. Incongruous. And a bit embarrassing when you think of what happens below. Similarly, on my way to the school we were chauffeured through Delhi’s chaotic streets to the school in its gated compound. At the lights, I hear the tap of beggars on the car window and follow my learned approach..look straight ahead…ignore….lock the car door. How dare we feel pleased with the contribution we might make to understanding. We should rage, we should fight even harder to both live a personally principled and religious life, and put all the remaining energy into good purposes…wherever you may touch. So perhaps here is the answer! Perhaps the next stage after formal employment, being free of institutional responsibility, is to RAGE.

I can still remain committed to our schools as being different places where they not only achieve more than they believed, but they can build up a personal and deep understanding of the world they live in and their responsibility. Raging for change in the lives of those young people could still be possible. In a week we’ll be off to work with the students in Manhattan. It is thrilling to have been a part of that school turn around and you can already see the impact on the lives of those young people, many of whom come with the baggage of dysfunctional lives. I can keep raging for them without physically being a part of the day to day.

When I first decided to slow down the work bit -note the lack of the word ‘retirement’- Margaret and I decided that we would invest some of our personal time in the township in South Africa. Out of this is the Bajubulele Project. Building work has started in the school and Margaret and I with friends plan to go in February and work to provide that community of young people with enhanced opportunities in Science,Maths and Technology. This has to be sustained and  at last I have the freedom to really invest our time here. Rage!

And one shouldn’t forget the family. Seven grandchildren growing into this chaotic and unpredictable world. We can rage here. We can fight for them to see the world in a positive light of possibilities where they can be the change for a better future.

So I can see that the ending of formal work doesn’t have to be less valued…it is only different and can be equally if not more fulfilling. Might it be even possible to live without too much conflicting hypocrisy.

There is one more thing to remember in this reflection. Three core principles for a Christian life. and in fact most religious beliefs is ‘God first, others second and me last.’ It is just so easy to do things for a good and humane purpose. But what is the guiding principle? Where do the values, principles and guidance come from? So finding time for regular spiritual reflection and refreshment is going to be important to sustain and direct the commitment.

So hence, on the Dylan Thomas’s anniversary I’ll take that line from the poem as a mantra ….”Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Or if you want to be bit more contemporary this song from the Dixie Chicks seems to sum up my ambition… They wrote it after they had criticised George Bush over his role in the Middle East. They deigned to make this criticism whilst on tour in Europe. They were castigated, southern radio stations refused to play their records, they were threatened an received death threats, yet through it all stood true to their beliefs. Well take all that history out if it, but the title and lyrics say it all….’Not ready to play nice’.