Why Did I Become a Teacher?

Someone in my PLN remarked this week, "We as teachers need to be responsible for our own PD." I couldn't agree more. We have to actively seek out professional growth opportunities and pursue best practices for teaching our kids. The problem is, how do we convince teachers to do this? If we worked in any other profession, our jobs would depend on it. If I worked for a corporation, I would have to do my job to the best of my ability in order to keep it. I also realize that in that same corporation I would work to achieve promotions and pay raises. Is this what we are going to have to do for teachers? Is this where the argument for incentive based pay comes from? I understand that it is frustrating to think that our very careers depend on the successes (and sometimes the moods) of students taking a standardized test. At the same time, how do we measure our success as teachers?
We have the most important profession in the world in my opinion. No job can exist in the future without coming through us first. We are turning out students who will work in the mills, who will be our physicians in our old age, who might find a cure for cancer. How can we be so satisfied with mediocrity? It is up to us to create students who are driven, self-motivated, who enjoy learning because it is a life-long process.
I think it is well past time for every teacher to take a long look in the mirror and examine themselves as teachers and as professionals and ask themselves..."Why did I become a teacher?"