I dreamed of being a super hero

To have my name in the headlines every day

Reality crushed my dreams when I was just seven 

I had to accept that I was never going to wake up with super powers

I thought my future of being a hero was over

I thought wrong

 

After tucking my dreams of fictitious abilities away

I decided that I could still help people, the possibilities were endless

I wanted to be a veterinarian

I wanted to be a doctor

I wanted to an occupational therapist

I wanted to be a soldier

 

My dreams were becoming more practical

But reality came crashing down again when I was sixteen

I wasn’t passionate about these jobs

I wasn’t passionate about blood

I wasn’t passionate about weapons

I wasn’t passionate about inflicting pain regardless of its goal

 

I was passionate about reading

I was passionate about writing

I was passionate about learning

 

My desire to help other remained at the forefront of my mind

But I wanted a job I looked forward to when I got up in the morning

I wanted to write, I wanted to read, I wanted to learn

 

Life answered my pleas for help when I was seventeen

We were all determining our career paths

College applications were the talk of the town

My friends had already decided how they wanted to spend the rest of their lives

They wanted to be doctors, engineers, and business moguls

 

They all told me that I could easily join their ranks

But they were wrong

They were passionate about money and prestige

Neither of which were important to me

 

As they were all suggesting high profile positions

My mind honed in on the most undervalued of them all

Teaching, I wanted to be a teacher

 

I was passionate about helping others

I was passionate about learning 

I could definitely be passionate about teaching

 

As time passed, I waited for reality to crash down once more

I was waiting to have to pick the pieces of my dreams up again

Only, the wave I was awaiting never arrived

Instead, I became only more enthusiastic and more positive that I made the right decision

Especially after I realized my childhood dreams were coming to fruition

 

I was going to be a hero

My name wasn’t going to be in the headlines every morning

I wouldn’t become Super Girl or the Invisible Woman

Miss Armstrong wasn’t going to wear a cape to work

But I was going to save more lives

 

People don’t think of teachers when they think of saving lives

They think about doctors and medics

They think about police officers and firefighters

They never think about the educators 

 

As a teacher, I will get the chance to save a new group of lost individuals every year

Every student has problems and needs a guiding hand

Some will require more guidance than others

Some may only need someone to hear them

Others may need someone to help them through a rough time in life

But they all need a hero whether they know it or not

 

Thomas Jefferson saw teachers as the heroes society needed

Shakira sees the lifesaving ability teachers have and promotes their importance

Education is becoming more and more important

So teachers are becoming more and more important

Yet they do not receive adequate recognition for their everyday heroics

 

Not everyone was supportive or embraced my newfound life goal

They thought teaching was an inferior field of employment

They thought I was wasting my potential

They thought I could do more for society in another career

They thought wrong