The Star Thrower

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Today is a more serious post, something I’ve struggled with as a teacher and as an individual working with kids.

As teachers, we wear many hats. We are educators, counselors, nurses, event coordinators, cheerleaders, comedians, and my personal favorite, zoo keepers.

And our job doesn’t suddenly end once we walk out of the classroom. We take it home and take it over the weekends and take it over our breaks.

For me, my students are consistently in my thoughts. I am always thinking about that one student that needs extra support, what I need to do to help them, how I need to implement this behavior plan for them, or find a specific activity that will aid them in their learning.

And often I worry.

I think about my students home life. Often times, while I’m not at school, I’ll think of those babies that have a difficult home life and I pray for them.

I’ve had many sleepless nights where I toss and turn and think about those babies who are really struggling in the class. I worry about their academics, how they are going to do next year in Kindergarten, and how their home life is not the ideal life that a child deserves.

And there have been a few times I’ve experienced situations where I have discovered my students are being abused.

This is where I really struggle.

I’ve realized I could never be a doctor or a social worker for that matter. I struggle to compartmentalize, and I struggle to keep my work life, home life, and emotions separate. Everything bleeds over into the other.

The two worsts parts of discovering abuse is; One, the devastation you feel that a child is experiencing this, and the second is that you are helpless. As teachers we are mandated reporters, so we are required to contact child protective services, but then there isn’t much you can physically do after that. You can’t storm in and take the child away and place them in a loving home or raise them yourself, although, I’ve desperately wanted to do this.

It’s heartbreaking. And I feel so small and helpless and so desperately want to save the child.

And then suddenly it feels like I can’t possibly make a difference. The amount of struggles my student is facing is overwhelming and their home life will surely dictate their future, and the year I have with them will have little impact.

But that doesn’t stop me from trying.

The story below is called “The Star Thrower.” It’s a story that inspires me to keep going, even when I feel helpless and feel like giving up.

One day a man was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a young girl moving about quickly.

“Good morning! the man yelled, “What are you doing?”

The young girl paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish into

the ocean.”

“I guess I should have asked,” said the man “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

“The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.

“But young lady, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young girl listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. Then she replied,

“It made a difference for that one!”

We are star throwers.

We may never know the impact we’re making in a child’s life or even in another person’s life for that matter. It may seem like our efforts are futile and we can’t possibly make a difference. And you may not be able to make a difference for every single student that enters your classroom. But you may be able to make a difference for one. And that makes all of our efforts worth it.

And isn’t that why we became educators in the first place?