Damn Fucking Right.

I started a new teaching job years ago, and I was struggling. I had been a great teacher, but switching jobs to an elite school I was constantly criticized by everyone. One teacher said she saw how much work I was putting in and seemed supportive.

My husband got diagnosed with cancer and went through years of treatment and almost died. I was terribly ill myself.

This person felt so sorry for me that she set up a fund without telling me for people to donate towards a gift card for food...niceright?

Thought she was a super awesome friend.

I worked so hard...so fucking hard to get better at my position. I put hundreds upon hundreds of hours in extra making the program I taught meaningful to students.

It worked. The kids LOVE me now. Admin loves me. I get all the support in the world.

My husband got better. I slowly got better.

However...

The moment I got a wave of huge support (in terms of a grant), this teachers face turned doubt and everything has been nasty from her ever since. Constant criticism, gossiping, manipulation. It felt awful. Large projects that I truly did for the love of my students were told, directly to my face, that I was doing them to make everything all about me.

Last week one of my students said Ms. —, everyone must like you. I said that this will be one of the most important things I can teach you, but it is important that you know that in fact everyone does not like me. In fact, there where points in my life where doingthe right thing caused others to hate me. Never equate doing good with being liked.

A very difficult lesson learned.