Hiking

Fontana N.C.

Fear

Fear can be ugly and our reactions to fear can also be ugly, frightful and cause fear in others. This is a fearful time for everyone. For those of us working every day in the trenches with children, we hold the fear away. We have to because we are the teachers. I am a teacher, my son is a teacher and coach. My husband is a coach, my sister in law and my friends are in education and we all are afraid. We are afraid for our jobs, our careers, and mostly for our students. The world is getting smaller and smaller and more and more complicated. We are fearful of what education is becoming. We are afraid to speak our truths because we are usually bullied down, mocked or worse, ignored. And we are tired. We are tired of defending our careers, crying over our students, working long into the night, making do, losing, fighting for scraps, and being condemned, criticized, and ignored. But still we arrive at work, plan for success, hold little hands, dry tears, listen to horror stories, feed hungry children and hungry minds and smile. Because we are the teachers and we cannot let fear and hate win.