Dear Almost Normal Teacher,
“Today almost felt normal,” she said. “It was good for my soul.”
There was a time not so long ago I wondered if normal would ever return, like maybe the third-degree burn of pandemic teaching had caused irreparable damage.
This past weekend I saw a picture of a young man with severe chemical burns on his torso from an explosion with a radiator cap. Just
looking at the images caused me physical pain. I asked him if he had any permanent nerve damage from the accident. “Thankfully, I don’t,” he said, “but for a little while, they thought I might. The tissue itself was so numb, but then gradually the feeling came back, not all at once, but it finally did.”
It seems this year a lot of teachers and students have become numb to living, and sadly, maybe even numb to dying.
Today’s comment from the almost-normal-feeling teacher reminded me that the resiliency of the human spirit in the form of a teacher is unparalleled.
After this year, if teachers can feel anything at all, they’re going to be okay, and it doesn’t matter if that humanity comes in September or May, just so long as it comes.
Maybe these last few days of school are a cleansing of sorts, a purification process to purge the infection.
Whatever they are, I know they are good for the soul. She told me so herself.
Would it be fair to say she's only one of many who believes the same way?
-CDB