Faces No. 10

This is No. 10 in my Faces series.  These photos were taken over the last 8 years.  I am steadily going through my photos and extracting the portraits I have taken over the years and posting them here.  

What do you think this man does for a living?

When I first saw him quickly crossing the room towards me, my first reaction was distrust and fright.  This man was well over 6 feet in height, well built and scary looking.  Since I was by myself, I wasn't sure if I should run or what.  

As he approached, he sensed my dismay, and broke into a huge grin with smiling eyes.  He introduced himself as the school principal.  

Over the next week, we had time to talk and I learned that when he finished required schooling (about grade 8), he started driving trucks for a construction company - a well paying job.  But he always noticed children who weren't going to school and wanted to do something to improved the quality of education in his community.  At night, he completed his high school education, quit his job and went to college.  He earned his teaching certificate and started teaching first grade students.  After school, he would work with children who didn't go to school.  Over time, many of these children started going to regular school.  He began to encourage educational reforms in his community, and was ultimately promoted to school principal.  

Recently, I received an email from a mutual friend.  Our fearsome school principal is not the superintendent of schools for the district.  

I learned a lot on this trip about not judging people by my standards of how they should look.