When life calls teachers away, other educators step up to be the pillars of strength

When tragedy, trials and tribulations meet you face to face, what do you do?

I’ll be the first to admit that I am prone to cower in the corner and cry. I wish I was as brave as my Grandpa Poole, as solid as my Aunt Charlotte, or as resilient as my own mom, but the sad reality is, I don’t think I am.

And that’s OK.

Because I have a network of friends and family that will undergird me when needed. I know, because they’ve done it before.

I recall when my hero, my grandfather, finally chose hospice over continuing his dialysis. It was a logical choice for me. Go! Be with him. Say your goodbyes. Soak up just a few more minutes with him. Just go!

If you’re not a teacher, you won’t understand this, but for me, as with most teachers, there was and is a delay in the decision to go or stay. Maybe just a slight one, but a delay nonetheless. Many teachers facing even just one day absent from their classrooms have a flood of thoughts: “But there’s a test tomorrow.” “But I have to finish this unit.” “But they’re supposed to learn a new concept.” “But I’ve got a stack of papers to grade.” I recall such a rush when I got the call about my grandpa. Torn between two concerns, I must have stared at my principal with an obvious look of worry. He simply said, “Go. We’ve got this. Your kids will be fine.”

The same sort of support occurred just a few years later when my family and I faced the abrupt loss of my father. Again, several days of struggle loomed ahead of me, and I couldn’t help but think about my classroom and my kids. For a few moments, I was torn, concerned that several days without me would put them behind and jeopardize their progress.

It’s not an arrogance, for those of you who aren’t teachers. It’s not that we’re the center of the universe contained in our little classrooms. But, in reality, no one can fulfill the duties of the classroom teacher other than the classroom teacher. No one has the rapport with a group of students like their classroom teacher. No one can fulfill lesson plans better than the one who created them, and certainly no one can create instruction to meet the specific needs of specific students like the one who knows them best – the classroom teacher.

But sometimes life calls teachers away, and that’s when the fraternity of educators steps in, when the family of teachers comes running. My friends at Hardaway did it for me, and when I knew capable hands were helping my students, I was able to focus on my family. That’s the band of brothers and sisters called teachers.

We see it often in our schools – the overwhelming sense of commitment to the minds they mold on a daily basis. A teacher down the hall battles cancer while bravely balancing painful chemotherapy with grading English essays. A young one across town faces a classroom full of eager faces while coping with a deployed husband. An older one puts on a happy face for his students while he plans the funeral for his young son.

Teachers have an impressive sense of duty to their students. It’s remarkable, really. But you wouldn’t understand unless you were a teacher. Thanks to all the pillars of strength who allow others to be …pillars of strength.

This story was originally published June 6, 2017 at 4:39 PM with the headline "When life calls teachers away, other educators step up to be the pillars of strength."