Block 84

School Friends

Blue for Columbia's Blue and White.
Purple for Brownsburg's Purple and White.

These are 

the friends I made

who I taught with,

not the ones 

I made when I

was a student.

Some I had known from 

my days in school . . .

they were teachers then

or perhaps 

students,

like myself,

then.

Some were older,

some were younger

some had even been

students in my own

classroom.

But,

in the classrooms

we were all on

the same stage . . .

equals

no matter 

what we 

had once been.

They mean

the world to me . . . 

I compare us

to soldiers

who have served

on the same battle field.

We have a mutual

understanding 

that only those

who have done the job

understand.

Everyone

seems to think

they know how to teach . . .

or they think of teacher

with this phrase

"Those who do, do,

Those who can't

teach."

Just once,

I would like to see

someone from 

that last group

send a week in a classroom.

For some,

a day would be 

way too much.

Real teachers

are rare birds

and I am glad

that I worked in a flock

of so many

great ones!

Dear Lord,

Thank you for blessing me with the friends I made in the battle field known as Public Schools. No matter what we did, someone always thought we were doing wrong or they could do it better. The real teachers among us took it in stride and kept on doing what we did . . . knowing we were doing what was right for our classrooms . . . adapting what we did for the individuals we encountered.

I hope, in the deepest parts of my heart, that you will always keep the people who care in the classroom. If they should ever cease to exist, the classroom will be a sad place.

Amen