I was lucky enough to be born in America.   Although my parents worked ceaselessly, in the time that they saw me each day they managed to impress upon me the importance of education as both a well rounded individual and a means to achieve any of the goals which you could dream up.  I also learned that the more education I had, the more goals I could dream of achieving, and how to formulate plans that led me to them. 
We moved often when I was young but even then I could remember my parents checking out the local schools before we did.  My parents urged me into advanced classes and always supported my individuality as well as my own extracurricular schemes.  By the time I was 10 I was being pulled around the block on roller skates by the dogs which my dog walking business had garnered as clients, and then I would set up my milkshake stand if it was a hot day.
Over the many years from then to now I was a professional artist, a mathematician,  a lingerie salesman, an adman for radio, a real estate investor, an entrepreneur, a high-rise window washer and a score or two of other jobs.  I always got bored, I never felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, I never felt like my job was important to me. 
In the beginning of 2006 I left the USA feeling helpless, angry and out-of-place.  In too many ways the country I grew up in was failing itself, some people didn’t care or wouldn’t notice, most didn’t know what to do to help.  In Prague I grew as a person, I was no longer angry, I saw things that were great about America and things I thought could make it even greater.  Where before I despaired not knowing what to do, I now feel strong enough to try to do something.  I decided that I would become the Johnny Appleseed of Education, walking the world and raising awareness, money, and hopefully inspiring many more people who are more capable than I and felt that perhaps as the start of the snowball, one man could make a difference by having a change ripple through many people. 
When I reflected back at my life I noticed that I was happiest when I was teaching, learning and helping people.  I thought about where the most difference could be made towards the betterment of our world and it stood to reason that it was education.  Better schools and students means, better doctors, a more educated populace which demands more of itself and its government, a country with less poor and hungry then ever before, a country which leads the world to a better tomorrow by example, not rhetoric. 
And so after teaching English and training English teachers for two and a half years, I booked a flight home to see if one man could make a difference.