(73) Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata

When we travel, it is often that we see working dogs sniffing the luggage and eyeing the passengers walking past in airports. I admit that I was ignorant that dogs served in most recent wars USA was involved in. Cracker was supposed to be the only dog being selected to be returned to the US with the handler, Rick Hanski, after the Vietnam war ended.

Like Rick Hanski, I did not know for a long time what I was going to do after leaving school. Starting from I was nine years old, one teacher after another told me I could earn a living as a reporter. I guess I was so used to that kind of praise that I looked elsewhere. Starting from age 12 I was very impressed with science and dreamed about becoming a scientist.

After my government examination, I was picked to be interviewed in a Mandarin Radio program. The first interview was done in an empty classroom. A few weeks later, it seemed everyone heard the interview being broadcast except me. Then the same radioman called me for another program and we spent three hours recording a 15 minute segment. He showed me how he transferred the 15 minutes' recording from the master tape to the program tape. After a third invitation, he offered me an assistant's part time post. Pending my father's permission, I would have to sign a one year contract after I attended a three month pronunciation course.  Since I was 16, my father objected. And that ended the opportunity to broadcasting.

While in college, I was trained in scientific programming. Even though I was given a scholarship for a Master's program, I was instructed to return to my home country. By now, I can see that if I had delayed returning, I would never return. Either marriage or a good career would have kept me somewhere in the USA. Ever since I started school, I have spent a lot of time observing how different teachers taught. Since I was bright and needed little teaching the first ten years, I spent a great deal of time helping slower students. When I returned to my home country, jobs were hard to come by and I went into college teaching. Good times or bad times, parents still pump in their life savings into their children's education.

My formal teaching life ended at age 31. After that it was training and special education. Around that time I received a prophesy from God that I will do four things for Him. It was only three years ago that I started doing two: writing and publishing (in the internet). The time for the third task has come. I am to record what He told me to, offer the recordings to a to-be set up social enterprise. Should these people refuse to take it, I am to learn to pod cast it. Either you too believe that each of us is here on earth for a specific purpose or you must think that I am raving mad!