Grass is always greener...

I want to be a doctor or a lawyer, or a CPA in a Big Six firm in Manhattan, so I can have a never-ending pile of money.

I want to be on television, so I can live the glamorous life of a famous person.

I want to be self-employed, so I can come and go to work as I please.

BUT...

I don't want to work the unforgiving hours, I don't want to be on call, I don't want to hate my "awake hours," I don't want to disappear from existence for months at a time, I don't want to be hounded by fans, paparazzi, busy-bodies, I don't want to have no health insurance (or pay out-of-pocket for a ridiculous plan).

And what about you? YOU want to sit there and bitch at the teachers who are all suicidal right now because summer is over. You want to tell them to call the wahhhhmbulance, to get over it because they work until 3 every day, to shut up about their TWO-MONTH-LONG VACATION being over when poor little you sits there at your desk (gun to your head) 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks per year.

Yes, there are some people out there who are in the profession for the perks of the hours that they COULD keep. I know some 8-3, 10/month teachers. But most of them, myself included (so most of US) work our ASSES off every day during the school year. We get in early, we stay late. We have work to bring home. We have weekend commitments (unpaid of course... we don't get "overtime") that might not always be "required," but are "highly recommended" to attend. We teach (and/or work other jobs) over the summer and sometimes even DURING the school year to make up for the SHITTY salary that we earn doing our 24/7 job all year long.

We are psychologists, referees, social workers, telemarketers, administrative assistants, tech support, parent figures, decorators, custodians, accountants, salespeople, advocates, mediators, waiters/waitresses, doctors, event planners, personal trainrs, confidantes, MCs, public speakers, conductors, PR reps... oh. And teachers. We teach. Yes, sometimes we actually get to the teaching part.

I hope for a good school year for my friends and former colleagues-- the teachers who work eighteen months' worth in the ten months that they're "on the clock." You deserve that vacation. Complain all you want. And the judgmental rest of you? Shut the fuck up until you've walked in a teacher's shoes.

OH! And you're welcome.