Spontaneous Sleeping Behind The Wheel

As recently as 6 months ago, I began jogging. I'd say running, but I think some people's stroll is still faster than I run, but that's beside the point. In fact, you could say it's keeping pace with the point in an aggravating manner, but I digress.

While jogging today I had an epiphany. Exciting, non?

See, a friend of mine posted what I thought was a very eloquent article about why it's hard to be a teacher this year. Frankly, I was reading it and thinking the whole time, "Boy, this is exactly how teachers feel this year! This is an excellent article!"  The crux of the thing, by the way, is that teachers, even the peppy ones, even the ones that make differences in your childrens' lives every day, are Tired.

So I sat there ruminating and thought "Man! This is exactly how I feel. I should totally share this article."

And then I didn't.

There was something that stopped me (beyond the lack of 'share' button from my phone, which irks me), and I couldn't put a finger on it until I was doing my 4th circle around the park today.

At 28 minutes into my 30 minute run, I realized what kept me from posting that article is the same thing I was feeling right then and there: I'm tired, too.

I'm not working full time. In fact, with the amount of subbing I actually do, I'd hardly qualify as part-time. Yet, I'm tired, too.

And it occurred to me, while I was running in circles, that I think, finally, everyone is tired.

To qualify my sweeping notion, here's my idea: what if, after almost a decade of living with a completely shitty economy (in Canada and the US), living in turmoil of losing a job for fear there is literally nothing else out there, we are ALL tired?

We are all doing the heaps more work given with little or no compensation; yet the blue bird on our shoulders keeps saying "Well, at least you've got a job! Just smile and do this little bit extra and be thankful for what you've got!"

As a teacher, as a tax payer, as a parent of school-aged children, as a (seemingly) perpetual student myself, I feel inundated with a whole lot of propaganda about teachers. I'm sure there have been years where things have been so heated and emotional. I'm sure there have been other years where things haven't been and should have been. But I use the term propaganda correctly here-- there is a whole lot of information being tossed around that is meant to sway public opinion.  As a teacher, tax payer, parent of school-aged children, and a perpetual student, I'm kinda torn.

On one side, I dig it. Teaching is not the profession it used to be, even 5 years ago. The teachers who have been around for decades must be truly beside themselves for the unrealistic amounts of change required of us in our classrooms on a daily basis.

And yet.

When people say "Oh, you get summers and holidays off!" we, as a profession, go on the defense. We say things like "You could've been a teacher, too!" and "We don't mandate our holidays, the government does!" and other such things that make people feel sad in their smug exclamations. We do things like create clever charts and graphs and do crazy math (well, other teacher friends do this, I simply read it and am amazed that they did that) to prove that with all the extra hours teachers put in, we earn cents on the dollar. Sad right?

And yet.

We chose this profession. Teaching hasn't changed so much in the last 200 years that we didn't know we'd be doing, planning, marking/grading, attending functions and chairing clubs/coaching teams etc.  To that, I can't help but say "You could've been something different, too, dear Teacher."

Ouch.

The other fact is that not every teacher does things like coaching or leading a club or (frankly) prep/marking etc. Some teachers suck at their jobs, or worse, hate their jobs. Those teachers, in my humble opinion, are the reason Great Teachers feel so shafted. Why-oh-why does Shitty Teacher get to earn $$$ and keep a job they clearly suck at?  I think those Shitty Teachers, too, are the reason public opinion isn't exactly pounding down our front doors right now.

Double ouch.

Not to mention, and this is the most important part, I can't think of any person in North America who works at any career who is not putting in thousands of extra hours of overtime just to keep a job.  I mean really, let's compare apples to apples shall we? Anyone who makes a paycheque that is equal to or greater than that of a teacher, or  a career that requires at least a post-grad certificate, is undoubtedly putting in time outside of their regular day. If they're not, they're lying to you to get your goat.

I promise.

The local business owner, the big-company person, the small-company person, the engineer, the teacher, the nurse, the Dr... do you think any of these professionals starts or ends a day at a prescribed time? Sure, they're supposed to, but if something needs their attention, it gets it, 5pm or not.

In this economy, everyone has to hustle to make a buck. In this economy, everyone puts in extra hours to make ends meet. In this economy, everyone is still pretending to not have hard weeks or months... and in this economy, we're ALL TIRED.

All of us. We're tired. I know you feel it, or you wouldn't still be reading this post.

We're tired of pretending we're all billionaires. We're tired of waking up and the problems of yesterday are still here. We're tired of hearing that, for all the great things we have going on in our two countries, there are some real, tough, shitty things out there that we've tried to smile through. And the shit is not going away.

So, here's what I propose: let's all stop pretending anyone works harder than anyone else. Let's all stop pretending someone else has it so much easier than you do. Let's stop blaming, and being jealous and get to the heart of the problem: we're tired and something has to change or there's going to be a nationwide pileup on the highways caused by spontaneous sleeping behind the wheel.

There are a lot of broken things going on in each country. We need to, as countries, figure out what is True and what is False.  No one is having secret diamond parties.  No one is living it up without worries or cares. Even celebs are wearing outfits more than once. The NHL is on strike or locked out or whatever the line is. Our teachers in Canada and the US could be in the same boat (and might already be, mentally), our Doctors are feeling the same. That's not a pretty picture, folks.

Appreciate what you have. Don't worry about your neighbours or your friends across town. I assure you, they're as tired as you are.

Now go take a nap. Or take two weeks and get 10 full hours of sleep a night.
Don't lie and say you don't need sleep. Yes you do. YES. You do.

De-occupy yourself and your family-- your kids don't need to be in 10 thousand things to make them good people. They need parents that care about them and show them how to take care of themselves.  They need to see what it's like to be engaged in the here and now.  And stop over-caffeinating yourself to get through your day. Sleep 8 hours at night instead; I promise it will change your life.

Nothing seems as daunting once you're rested.
Nobody has it better than you when you've had enough sleep.
The sun isn't even as annoyingly bright and cheerful when it's not reflecting off the bags under your eyes.

It's time to stop being tired; that time starts now and it starts with you.

(don't worry-- the regularly scheduled hilarity will begin again once I've had a nap)

Do you agree? Or am I off my ever-loving rocker?