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Walking out of school today, I ran into this really great colleague of mine--an older guy that's always smiling, always looking on the bright side of things. He's a career-changer. Has only been teaching for a couple of years. He coaches several teams. Sometimes he rides his bicycle to work.

"You know, sometimes I think about these kids," he said, pointing at a group of girls putting up an activities calendar near the cafeteria, "and I realize, they actually pay me to do this job."

I thought about my pain-in-the-ass kids. And then I thought about the vast majority of my kids that crack me up, that want to learn, that give my life a purpose. And I thought, for a teacher, there's a lot more good than bad. It was a good way to end the day.