Are you sure....?

Today was a somber day at school. It was not a surprise to many including myself with the events that have been happening at the state legislative level. We all have heard the opinions of our legistlators as they pass the bills that in my opinion are killing the education system in our state. With all this hanging in the air the voters sadly voted against the levy in our district. On top of this the accreditation team was at our school today to review our application and interview staff. We all had to pretend that we were not heart broken by the recent events for them and for our students. It was hard to hear the students ask about the rumors that were spreading like wildfire about which teachers would be fired and what programs we would not have next year. The athletes grieving for the loss of the ability to play. the students that participate in the fine arts (band, choir, drama) wondering what now and the teachers trying their best to reassure them that nothing was set in stone. The news that the budget for the levy will be reassessed and ran again in June did not alleviate any of the unknowns amongst the mass.
I had to ask myself this morning as I watched the news if I would have felt better if the voters in the other district had voted against the levies in the three other districts. Those districts were fortunate to have a "Yes" vote and the students in those districts will not hopefully the ramifications of the budget cuts.
So the question in the title "Are you sure...?" Well that was finished by the following words: "you want to be a teacher?" Yep that statement was asked today by a teacher that expressed her disheartment. Under any other circumstances I would have been offended; taking this question as a question of my ability to teach. I did not take it this way.  My answer was "Yes." As I stated this simple one word answer it was not as enthusiastic as it should have been however, I do want to be a teacher. I still believe in the public education system. I believe, as many do that are already in this noble profession, we have a passion to teach and that this is hopefully a temporary bump in the road.
I will admit I wonder what happened to education being the main priority as many politicians tell us. Lately we have seen it be the first to see many financial hits and bad publicity. I will defend the education system and stand by my hope to be a teacher someday. Yes there have been days that I doubt this attitude but I know that we all have been put on this path to share this gift.