Now that I've been either a teacher or a student for 14 hours straight...

I don't feel much like writing, but I had such a long day. I was recruited to do a team's worth of work on my own during fourth period and walked around the school in a fury - only to meet a lonely student talking to another teacher. He stopped me for what ended up being about thirty five minutes to talk all about his thirteen years of forced drug abuse and child abuse. Stories I could barely remain still to hear, stories that thirteen year olds should not tell. Then he proceeds to tell me that I remind me of his mother who decided to stay with his abusive step-father instead of taking care of him. He meant it in a good way, since he loves and misses his mother. I almost had to tell him to stop talking because I'm not strong enough to hear it, but then I remembered he is thirteen and he has lived it. Needless to say my fury went away. But what's really horrifing about this situation is this stuff does not rock my core like it should, it's almost common enough to lack the ability to shock.

I need to make a mental note to stop comparing my life to people I graduated with and knew before and start remembering that there are hundreds of teachers in this city who face the same thing I do every day.