This felt like a Lucent Dream:
In my dream, I'm talking with Martha about her "crashing and burning" in her career of a public high school inner-city teacher.
I don't want her to feel bad about what happened, and am trying to figure out what I might say that might help. What comes to mind is the fact that so many of her students were African-American and that they came from very difficult circumstances. So the realistic chances that paying attention in high school would be beneficial to them might -- in all honesty -- not make much difference.
As I think this, I become the person talking to one of her students about paying attention to his education. I say "Are things better for people [like you]? Absolutely. Are things good enough? Absolutely not. But progress is being made. It's like putting new wheels on an old cart. The cart's the same, but the new wheels can make pushing/pulling it easier." I feel good about saying this and I actually believe it. Whether it has any effect on the young man standing in front of me... I don't know. Maybe it shouldn't because maybe it simply isn't enough of a change.
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