I hope this makes you cry....

Because if it does, then your heart is in the right place to be trusted with the hearts of our children.

In all my life, regardless of how many people might have made threats toward me or even chased me all the way home from school, I have never once been in a fight where I hit another person. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I never once thought an issue was important enough to be thrown out of school for fighting. The second is that I could not bear the thought of hitting and hurting another person (even if they were out to get me).

I have always been the person up on the soapbox, trying to protect the underdog, the innocent, the teased, the bullied, even the dismissed. As a teacher, some of my favorite students were not the ones who knew they were smart (and had the attitude to accompany the good grades). One was a class clown on whom most teachers had already given up. Another was a sixteen year old girl who had a son already and had a difficult time passing math class. (I continued to tutor her in subsequent years when she had other teachers, and she graduated, probably surprising herself.) Most of these students were not my same race, they didn't share similar backgrounds or even family structures. At times I am sure they thought I dressed as frumpy as I thought they dressed revealingly. They weren't the smartest or most successful students, and they suffered drawbacks - suspensions (one girl was caught for drugs in school), skipping, failing a test, etc. But I could not give up on them. So many already had. I know it made a difference. I may or may not have been their favorite teacher. I KNOW math was not their favorite subject. However, every day no matter what was going on with them or with me, they knew I cared. They knew I would not tease them or put them down in any way. They could count on me to listen and encourage them. And they listened. They all graduated.

Keep in mind as you enter classroom after classroom that sometimes the slightest comment or smallest gesture can affect a child's self-esteem for a lifetime. Please do not think that because you may only be there for one day that your presence or attitude does not matter. You might be the only person who ever listened to Mary or the first teacher ever to notice that William bullies Sarah every day on the playground. You might be the only teacher to giggle instead of scold when the class clown acts out, and therefore the first to make a connection with him. You cannot know what it will be, but I guarantee you that if you are always kind, listen to all (not just the attentive, attractive, good smelling, behaving ones) children with your heart, keep an open mind, treat them with respect, and never allow student to student teasing, ridiculing and bullying in your presence, you will make an impression and a difference in the lives of many of them.

If you are passionate about caring for children, you might want a tissue....