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I am an American currently teaching English to graduate students and scheduled to teach "Technological Change and the Environment" and "Different Economic Paradigms for Business Management" in the BBA program at Ubon Ratchathani University in Thailand and working on a PhD in Buddhist Economics.

This is a condensation of a couple of blog entries that says much about why I am here....here in Thailand and here at omidyar.net.

I did something this morning that I haven't done in a long, long time. I was on a web site and clicked on a link and then just kept jumping to different things that seemed interesting. I really have no idea how I ended up where I did and it really doesn't matter but the destination does.

This is the website I ended my journey on .... Why Do You Do What You Do?

It's an awesome question. I hope that the answer is easier for you than it is for me. I haven't resolved some issues with it yet.

Why do I do what I do? I love teaching. I have known since I was very young that that is what I wanted to do. I love learning. And I think that that is not always true of teachers. But, I have always wanted to share that love of learning. Learning is needed to make things right in our lives and in the world. We need to learn about ourselves and learn about others. We need to learn about what makes us tick and what is important to us. We need to know what we want and what we need. (And know how to make that distinction.) We need to know how to speak and share but we also need to know how to listen. Teaching English here has taught me that language is not all about grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation. It is primarily about communication. When we forget that, we may as well forget the grammar, vocab and pronunciation. It is in communicating and sharing who we are and what we dream and what our wants and needs are that we figure out how to get along and thrive in this world.

(When I wrote this, my primary job was tutoring Thai children who were/are in International school.) There are parts of what I do that I am not happy with. I think that many of the parents of my students have their children learning English and studying in International schools for the wrong reasons. It is a prestige thing for them. They haven't thought through what they are doing. Their children are growing up not knowing their own culture or history or even language. So I have started helping their kids with their English by helping them learn about their own culture. Helping them see that things are not great just because they are western. Helping them learn to ask the important questions....like "Why do you do what you do?"

Now I am teaching older students who have made a choice for themselves to study English and study in English. These students are doing it for much different reasons. They are from the poorest part of Thailand and they are looking for ways out of that poverty. Ways to arm themselves to compete in Thailand and the international scene. For many of them, the question is even more important...because they are making their own decisions now and are at a place where they need to weigh their goals with not only a financial balance but a moral balance. They are studying in the only school in Thailand and maybe the world that offers a major in Sufficiency Economy - Buddhist Economics. And it is where I am now working on a PhD in Economics working in precisely that area.

So....what is your answer?

In that bit of contemplative web wandering I was into back in December, I found a another website.

There are some incredibly great forums on there. I had great hopes for some of the forums on here. I am in a position where I need (REALLY NEED) that interaction and stimulation. Everything here seemed to deteriorate. This group seems to be different.

What is it? It is a community of people who are trying to network together to make a difference in many different areas. I have found some interesting discussions in education and literacy.

I was really taken aback at one posting where someone who is apparently new to the organization (not quite as new as me) went looking to see what Omidyar means. "OMID in Persian (Farsi) means HOPE. YAR in Farsi means friend. It has another root means a helper. So the meaning of OMIDYAR is a friend of HOPE. " That is exciting and interesting except that the name of the network comes from a Person's name: Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay and co-founder of Omidyar Network with his wife, Pam.

These are the stated goals of the network:

Join us now in making the world a better place.

Network: Meet people with similar interests.

Participate: Comment on discussions or start your own.

Collaborate: Work with others to make your vision a reality.

Another thing that popped up was a "button" that I kept seeing:

HAVE YOU TAKEN THE PLEDGE? I am here because I believe in making the world a better place. I believe in treating others with trust and respect. I believe everyone has something to contribute.