In the Trenches

When I tell people I’m a teacher, their response is almost always the same: “Wow, thank you for your service.”

It’s said with the same solemnity people reserve for veterans, nurses, or first responders. At first, it always caught me off guard. Service? As if I’ve just returned from the front lines of battle.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize they’re not wrong. Teaching is a kind of battlefield. Not with bullets or bombs, but with overcrowded classrooms, underfunded programs, and the daily fight to make students believe in themselves when the world often tells them not to.

There’s never a dull moment as a teacher—that’s one thing I always say. Every day is unpredictable, exhausting, and at the same time, deeply fulfilling. And in those moments, I remind myself that I’m grateful for this position. I’m grateful to have an outlet where I can hold real discourse about things that matter. I’m grateful to be able to create educational resources that spark curiosity and challenge students to think critically about the world around them.

So maybe “thank you for your service” isn’t such an exaggeration after all. It’s not war, but it is a fight. And teachers (every single one of us) are in the trenches, doing the work that shapes the future.