There’s a theme I have to keep going back to when I write in this blog, and it’s the idea that those who don’t see kids as the future or have any belief in them as people should probably not do a job that deals directly with students to begin with. This is bigger than politics, though every so often, politics injects itself into these disaffected staff members. I’m not simply talking about teachers, even as the front lines happen to have teachers as the first infantry. As a whole, anyone who works with kids and sees them as nothing but scum ought to reflect as to why they don’t believe in themselves.

Let me expound.

If indeed you perceive our students as nothing but scum to spit up and chew out as a whole, then we’re saying, since you’re working with them, that you have no self-worth whatsoever, because why would anyone work with someone or something that’s “beneath” them? For that matter, why would anyone only pretend or mimic the job of a teacher / principal / school staff member when there are people who’d want to do that job from the heart? Just because the students don’t conform to your vision for what the perfect student should be, does that mean they don’t deserve a good education?

Every so often, I start to think about what might it take for these non-believers to truly believe. A little holy water? A true to life baptism? A visit to Mecca? A reality check of biblical proportions? I don’t know. Even those who cloak themselves in “bitterness” may honestly believe in the students, and that’s always a sight to see, like cats who go to church but pretend to sin just to survive.

Baptize thyself in the waters of hope. Believe in the children. Believe in yourself.

Jose, who knows “amen” means “I believe …”