Perspective

Last night I was sitting in class absolutely overwhelmed with everything I have to do. I'm currently in the middle of completing a huge assessment in order to get my teaching credential. So while I was in class I started going on and on and in my head about everything I have been required to do to become a teacher about how all the hopes and big dreams I have had for your students can get sucked out of me so fast when I'm too busy worrying about fulfilling requirements that really mean so little in the grand scheme of things. Then, not by chance I believe, my classmates and I were reminded why we are pursuing the career we are. One of my classmates, an older, black gentleman in his 60's told my professor he was able to attend in the inauguration in D.C. on Tuesday. She asked him if he would speak on it for a few moments to us. Well, a few moments turned into a few minutes, but I did not care. I was hanging on to every word. He spoke about how if you were in D.C. on Tuesday you would have felt the specialness of the occasion in the air. He felt how unified our country became. He felt the power of dreams and how truly wonderful America is. I cannot recall everything he said, but what I do remember was how he made me feel, the same way I felt on Tuesday that dreams are still alive in America and all of us regardless of our race, gender, or station in life have the ability to reach our fullest potential. As he went on, I was reminded this is why I teach.