Teaching is probably one of the most underrated professions, with many parents considering them to be babysitters, while the state often ignores their need for more supplies, flexibility, or support.
While many complain about the long teacher holidays, very few actually realize what it feels like to be in a room with 25 kids for eight hours, caring for everyone’s needs, and keeping your cool in every absurd situation that may arise.
They say that teachers are asked to make more minute by minute decisions than neurosurgeons, and it is probably true. These heroes are torn between teaching their subject, comforting someone who just complained about something, and keeping the whole class quiet and focused. All day, every day.
But, besides the psychological and emotional burden that teachers often bear, there is something more concrete they need to deal with. Money.
While teachers make much less money than other professions- ridiculously less in some countries- they are also asked to spend a significant amount every year out of their pocket to provide for their classroom.
Paper, markers, craft supplies, books, are only some of the items you will find in a teacher’s shopping cart.
How much do they pay for all that stuff every year? Well, according to teachers themselves, some can spend up to $1,000 when they make around $68,000.
One of those teachers who go above and beyond for their students and want to provide the best supplies for them is Rachel Borsgard.
The young woman is in her first year of teaching third-graders at Literacy First Charter School in southern California and she just wanted to have everything ready for her students when schools opened. What the state provides was obviously not enough, so she had to spend her own money to buy the extra stuff she needed.
So, Borsgard found herself at Target San Diego Mission Valley in mid-August, shopping for her classroom, when she had an emotional experience she could hardly believe.
The young teacher had filled her cart with school supplies and was about to check out when a woman approached her. She asked if she was a teacher- that much was obvious!
“As I was getting ready to grab my wallet out of my purse, a woman comes up behind me and asks if I’m a teacher. I jokingly respond, ‘Yes, can you tell?'” she wrote in a Facebook post.
When Borsgard confirmed that, indeed, she was a teacher, the stranger offered to pay for the supplies. In fact, she stated that she would pay for everything- and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
The teacher got emotional and started to sob when she realized that the woman was making this move as a sign of recognition to all the hard work teachers put in, in order to educate our children.
The woman’s act didn’t only leave Borsgard speechless, but it also attracted the cashier’s attention.
“The cashier beams and says, ‘See? There are still beautiful things happening in this world,'” Borsgard wrote in the same post.
And, as much as Borsgard wanted to hug her new friend, Nikki, the pandemic didn’t allow for it. Instead, they took a picture together and the young teacher made sure Nikki’s generous deed would not go unnoticed. She posted about their encounter on Facebook, and she received hundreds of positive comments.
This woman’s act of kindness reminds us that it is so easy to make someone happy even in these uncertain and dark days.
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