Dear Nike,
Your new ad featuring Colin Kaepernick reveals the indomitable spirit of athletes surmounting all types of obstacles and reminds me how teachers do the same thing.
They show up.
They believe in what they do even as those who legislate their profession don’t.
They don’t succumb to pressure or failure much like the athletes in your commercial.
Teachers are crazy enough to think they can help a traumatized kid believe that life will someday be sane again.
They believe the student whom society deems worthless can someday be a CEO.
They know those who migrated to this country legally or not, deserve a seat in their classroom and they teach them all the same.
They simply want to be paid a living wage and are now running for public office to ensure that happens.
Despite being ridiculed and denounced they persevere.
I know because I was a teacher and it was clearly one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs I’ve ever done.
Teachers go into the profession knowing their dreams are crazy enough and somehow they manage, through all the distractions of cell phones and school shootings, to just do it.
Teachers have to be crazy dreamers. They believe their words and their thoughts and their actions and their lessons and every part of their being will make a difference. They hope that what they do matters. They believe, no matter how hard it gets, that they’ll keep trying. But most importantly they believe in all the little or not so little humans who sit before them or alongside them every single day.
By supporting Colin Kaepernick, you pave the way for corporations to see the bigger picture and to help others who have been ostracized because of their beliefs. Perhaps someday our leaders will agree to generously compensate teachers, provide affordable health care for the masses and end discriminatory practices that kill and incarcerate far too many African-Americans. It’s time for us all to do our part to make our country a safe haven for all who dare to follow their heart and dream a crazy enough dream.
