If the Rapture were to be tonight, I believe tomorrow there would be scarcely a handful of teachers left in public schools. Yet, daily we are labeled as subversive and hear accusations of indoctrination and worse. They say we are teaching our students heinous things when in reality, we protect them, love them and make every effort to teach them to read, write, think and cope in this world. Public educators are being discredited, and slowly, slyly, gradually de-funded. And the worst is probably the looks of distrust we get when we admit our profession.

As a group we are the majority. We are also kind, trusting and compassionate and easily pushed around. This has left us vulnerable to political attacks and used as political pawns. As educators we can’t wrap our heads around why people would knowingly do this. That is because we are not running the same race as them and certainly are not motivated by the same things. If we were, we wouldn’t be educators.

So what can we do? Two things will help, the third is the real answer.

First, we must educate ourselves as to how the enemy works and who the enemy is and what is his motivation. Ignorance of the enemy is not acceptable. Read and enroll in online educator political discussions. This is non-negotiable.

Second, we must vote and vote only for those we know and trust. No straight ticket votes and no assumptions due to a D or an R or any rhetoric or promises. Vote based on actions, not words. And if you don’t know about a candidate, do not guess and vote. Just skip voting for that particular office. The ballot is not a STAAR test. You can leave some blank.

Third, and this is the most important thing: pray. Pray daily and pray big and pray again. Pray for every child and every parent. Pray for our state leadership. Even if it is only five minutes, make time in the morning to bring it all to the Father. He is why we do what we do. He is all-powerful and you are His child who serves His precious children.