defending my corner

As a teacher, I'm seriously tired of hiding in corners. Teachers aren't paid enough. Teachers aren't given enough respect. Teachers aren't allowed the same constitutional right to defend themselves just because they are at work. I'm also tired of how non-liberal teachers are painted into a corner if they don't agree with the teachers who so loudly proclaim their rightness about gun control. Somehow non-liberal teachers are inhumane and worthy of shunning? Give me a break. That shunning is just another form of intolerance and snuffing out of free speech.

The only way to "stop hiding in corners" is to learn what you need to do to defend yourself.  Is this not a basic statement? Is this not common sense? Criminals and the mentally unstable who go off their rocker and hurt others do not care one wit about any protests about how people are simply done with having to hide in corners. Just like the common citizen doesn't care enough to hold their representatives accountable for not treating teachers better by ensuring better pay and respect and Second Amendment rights—and freedom of speech for all.

And yet, what solutions are there? I've pulled on a thread to unravel a few thoughts, but what have I done to help things? What can be done?

Societal decay and my limitations of means and position tell me there is little I can do. Nevertheless, I know I can start with me and the people around me. I can begin with my children, my family, my students, and my professional learning community. I can write things like this in the space that I have a voice and don't worry about how I might be shunned.

I never have liked hiding in corners, but until some viable solutions are implemented, corners can be a haven if defended honorably and with humility.