I recently told my tale of personal woe in an article that was published on the Huffington Post website.
It was scary to bare my soul in a public setting but I thought it might help other teachers to know that there was someone else out there who had a difficult time doing a challenging job.
The feedback I received was amazing. I got comments from teachers all over the world. “It’s like you are telling MY story.” Some people sympathizied, others empathized and some disagreed.
I also received some rather interesting feedback that implied there was a game at hand that I didn’t realize I was playing.
“Meh. Big deal. That’s nothing. You should see what I had to deal with.”
To which I replied (in my head), “Really? Is this a contest? Are we playing Who’s the Biggest Loser right now? Is this a special episode of The Amazing Pity Party?”
The one-upmanship in the comment section was quite amusing to watch.
“Humpf. This lady obviously had lots of money and got to stay home all day. I don’t have any money and I am run off my feet working two jobs.”
“Hold on, here. You have it made! You have two feet? I only have one foot and no job and I sit in my house all day crying my eyes out.”
“Whoa, whoa, suck it up, lucky duck. You have one leg? I have no legs and I live on the street where I wish I could cry but I have no tear ducts because they were removed by aliens!!!”
You see where I’m going with this?
We’re all just simple human beings trying to get by in a world that’s sometimes neither fair nor kind.
And sometimes the only thing that gets us through the day is the compassion of others – family, friends, and yes, even strangers.
Pain is pain. Compassion is compassion.
And I’ll let you in on a little secret: It’s not a competition.
I know the story I told isn’t the most pitiful story in the history of the world. In fact, it not even the saddest story within a 100 metre radius of my house.
But it’s my story. And it’s the only one I can tell.
Feel free to tell your own. Trust me. If it caused you pain, you have my compassion.
Four Yorkshiremen – The script
Monty Python – Four Yorkshiremen – The Video
suburbanprincessteacher 
Oh yes. Isn’t this so true? Why do we all feel the need to one up each other in the disaster department? There’s got to be some scientist studying this social phenomenon.
Anyone who thinks they have the worst story, hasn’t been out in the world enough. Just be happy with the shitty hand you were dealt, and be happy you don’t have someone else’s shitty hand.
Aaaaaaa-greed, lady.
Great article on HuffPost. I’m a parent of public school children, freshman and junior in high school. I live in Oregon and am often unhappy with the teacher’s union here and their priorities. My kids have had teachers we both loved but the teachers were probably a decade late on retirement. I don’t know how teachers have the stamina and creativity to do what they do year in and year out. I wish there was a movement to reward the good teachers, the creative teachers, teachers like you who care enough that you can just get burnt out.
One of the worst things to happen to the US public education system is that a lot of parents decided they didn’t need to parent anymore and left it up to the teachers. I’m sorry that father said what he said. He might want to get a better mirror.
And as for the my bag is heavier than yours…..whatever, get your own blog 🙂
Thank you for your nice comments.
My kids have been lucky to have good teachers but they are also easy kids. I know there are some teachers out there who should have chosen different careers. It’s the same in any profession, sadly. There are bad bus drivers, bad nurses, etc, etc. I agree with you though, we need to find a way to support the strong teachers and help the others move on.