Get on your boots...

Today was Career Day at school. Parents and other community workers paraded through the school, speaking to students from Kindergarten through eighth grade, discussing the in's and out's of their careers.

Among the things they discussed, they talked about the amount of education that they required in order to be prepared to do the job, and how much they enjoyed what they do for a living.

And in the meantime, our State Senate passed a preliminary bill that will devastate the public school system in our state.

And while our presenters drove up to our school to do their civic duty, a handful of teachers, emblazoned in red shirts and armed with signs and flyers with pertinent information, stood outside our school, educating the community.

Many of our students waved as they were dropped off, parents honked for their support.

For the remainder of the day, I pondered the irony. Here were community leaders; parents, neighbors, relatives, friends, role models discussing the future of my students.

They stressed the importance of a good education. I wondered how many would call their representative and demand better for the students they had so enthralled this morning.

I wondered how many parents stopped during their busy day, and called the numbers we distributed. How many told someone else of the atrocities that are being planned as I write this?

And me?

I wrote, I called, I organized. And I will continue to do so, until this wrong is righted.

And I taught my sons the importance of fighting for something that you believe in. I taught them that education: their education, my students' education, is important enough for me to stand so early in the morning, across the street from my school, waving a sign, demanding action.

I taught them to pick a career that will invoke that passion: instinctive, protective, proactive reaction when threatened.

Today, people came in to speak to my students about their careers.

Today, I taught all my kids, birthed and otherwise, that I love my job.