(By Cher Guevara)
I see teachers
Bent over piles of papers to be graded
On their coffee break,
Dribbling sugar and cream espresso
Over tests
That can’t wait for tomorrow.
I see teachers
With butterflies and dust
Drifting out of their pocketbooks;
Last dimes spent
On supplies,
On pencils and Kleenex.
I see teachers
Being vilified by the thundering talking heads
As perpetrators of propaganda,
Nothing but useful idiots
For the machinery of the state.
I see teachers
Being splattered with black paint,
The bloody spit of epithets;
“Union thugs!”
“Useless bureaucrats!”
“Spoiled and overpaid!”
I see teachers
With the hearts of mother bears
And father lions
Protecting their kids
At all costs,
Even willing to lay down their lives
In the face of another semi-automatic tragedy.
I see teachers
With the faith of the devout,
Believing in their students
More than the most pious on earth.
Holding strong
That their kids
Can learn anything,
Can do anything,
Can be anything.
I see teachers
Walking through dark valleys,
In the shadow of budget cuts,
In the blackness of vilification,
Walking tall
With hearts
Of love.
Thousands of teachers, students, and parents protested against Betsy DeVos in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alt Dept of ED/Twitter)
