Why I Teach: A Sacred Place of the Heart

I was a teacher for eight years before becoming a therapist. I am currently working at two middle schools in Longmont, Colo., as a prevention/intervention specialist. Basically, my job is to provide a safe place where students can share their most pressing issues without feeling judged.

Working with teens is a most challenging job, yet it’s one of the most rewarding. I am working with a student who has had major trauma throughout his life. He’s witnessed and experienced domestic violence. There has also been physical abuse, imprisonment, gang involvement and violence—the list goes on.

Initially he was very hesitant to even show up for our sessions. So one day he posed the following questions to me: “Why do you do this? Why do you care? If you haven’t experienced what I’ve gone through, it’s like talking to a wall. So this is a waste of time.”

I replied: “You’re right; I will never understand your past experiences. It would be presumptuous for me to say that I do. Yet underneath the experiences you went through, there was a feeling of fear, anger, disappointment, sadness, etc. Those are feelings that I have had in the past and will continue to experience until I die. So from that perspective, at the level of your feelings, at the level of your heart, you and I can make contact … at that level of suffering, we have a lot in common.”

It’s been three weeks since I met him for the first time. And though he continues to be suspicious, he keeps showing up in my office. I personally feel this is his first attempt at showing up for life, and I’ve facilitated this. Of that I’m proud. He keeps showing up to meet with me at that sacred place of the heart where I can truly see kids as the wonderful human beings that they are. For what other reason, if not this, would I get up each and every morning to serve the children?

Galindo is a prevention/intervention specialist working with middle schools students in Longmont, Colo.

Why do you teach? What brings you back to the classroom year after year? Let us know by sending in a “Why I Teach” column to Teaching Tolerance. “Why I Teach” submissions should be e-mailed to editor@teachingtolerance.org [2]. Check here [3] for further directions.