I left decided to leave teaching when I got a call at 9:30 pm telling me a threat had been made against the school for the next day, but not to worry because there would be an increased police presence. This in a year where there had been a shooting with injuries at one of my district’s schools, where one of my school’s students shot and killed a student at another school during a game, and where it was discovered one of our students had a gun in school when he posted it on tick tock. I could live with a million pings on my soul including beginning to believe my name was “fat bitch” my entire first year of teaching, being humiliated by an assistant principal, and being told the lowest grade I could give was a 50, but I finally had to admit defeat when I began wearing a Fanny pack with my belongings to school so that if we were evacuated due to a shooting I would at least have my car keys. I feel really badly for parents and kids today because teachers are so fundamental to society, but everything is just so messed up it’s hard to be a teacher.