The Rewards of Teaching

I just had a very nice day. The 8th grade luncheon was yesterday, and it was as usual a moving event, especially when we got to the end and had each girl stand with her souvenir candle and say who she metaphorically lights her candle for. A lot of mothers. A few fathers. Many friends and teachers. Today we had the 8th Grade Moving Up ceremony, and it was lovely, too. Not to let this overshadow the girls' achievements, but we had a surprise guest--Barack Obama!!

I really tried not to be too star-struck about it ... when we first found out that he was going to be having a meeting in the conference room across from the auditorium we rented, we knew we would let his people know about our fabulous urban school (Michelle actually gave the commencement speech for our seniors three years ago), and how much it would mean to our girls if he could possibly make an appearance, even for a second. But we also figured that there would be a good chance that it wouldn't happen, and there was so much else to focus on: rehearsing the procession, figuring out the sound system, telling the girls how beautiful they looked and welcoming all their family members. We had gotten all the way to our closing remarks when one of my colleagues got a text message asking if it would be all right if news crews came in. She rushed to the podium and (politely) interrupted the director of the school to introduce Obama. The crowd erupted. I started crying. I think I may have gotten some tears on him when he shook my hand.

For me, Obama represents hope as much as any human being can. The fact that he found our ceremony important enough to be worth his time makes me feel like it's not just my school and me working here on the ground. Someone with a little more power and a lot more charisma and a much bigger platform from which to speak cares, and if that's the case, maybe there is a chance that we can live in a better world than this one. He also represents my fears, I think, that we really can't do better. That the only change we will ever be big enough to achieve will be incremental, taking decades to become just marginally more equal, or more just, or more socially and environmentally conscious. Because if this man who is so smart and so skilled and so committed and so real cannot lead us there--if we can't even chose him when he's right in front of us--no one can. After having watched many of his speeches, heard him debate, and read through some of his positions, I believe that he is smart in all kinds of ways, and that his background as a community organizer equips him to lead.

One thing that I admire about Obama above all the other things is his willingness, as I see it, to tell people what they don't want to hear. To tell people that there are no easy answers (a gas tax break won't solve our problems, for example) and that we will all have to work on the challenges our society faces. I want to do that work, but I need help. I need a leader. I think he could be that person.

At the ceremony today, he spoke for about four minutes (according to the news; I was too distracted to keep track). He told the girls that he is proud of them for finishing eighth grade, but that it's just eighth grade; he challenged them to work hard, saying that they can achieve anything but only with effort. He waited for them to quiet down when they got too excited; he was very concrete in his instructions to them, saying not only to "dream big dreams" but also to get a stack of books this summer and challenge themselves daily to be the best that they can be. I think he would be a good teacher, if he weren't a politician.

As he walked off the stage, I thought he would miss my hand in the flurry, and since we'd already shaken hands once (when he walked on), I didn't really mind. But as he passed through the line of teachers, he looked each one of us in the eye and reached out.

This is such an exciting and hopeful time for the United States--and for me personally. Let's hope that in sixty years, I'm able to tell my grandchildren not only that I shook hands with Barack Obama, but also that I shook hands with the nation's first black President, a man who led our country to become a better place.