I am a teacher.
I struggle every day to get through to kids with major problems in life.
They cry out for attention, for help, for support, for someone to love them.
We can only offer so much and often they reject the help they crave.

Its often no better than banging your head against a brick wall. Its a struggle. I struggle with it every day.
I often look at people in business suits who are going off to make money for a big company, people who work in stores selling the latest fashion item, tv executives who would sell their soul to the devil to get some ratings and it makes me feel better about what I do.
These people are most likely just as stressed as I am, some more so, yet what does anything mean to them?

I sometimes wish I could have a meaningless job where what I do every day doesn't affect people's lives really. But I don't think I could live with myself if I did do some meaningless job. There is more to life than button holes and coffee beans.

Some days I just wish I was treated with some respect. You bust your gut for these kids but they don't know that you are doing it for them, that you are giving your life to try and make their lives better. They just see you as that adult that their parents have told them is not worth listening to and thinks they are better than them.

It breaks my heart.

UPDATE: someone here claimed they could "fix" my students through an online video tutoral. Siad they could make them more intelligent even!
This post of mine was not me whining about my students and their problems. It was about me coping with my day to day life and feeling like I make a difference. My students cannot be "fixed" and I wouldn't want them to be. I deal with them in the classroom fine, that was not what I was getting at, at all.