A thousand children

I've been teaching a little while, not nearly as long as most teachers my age, but long enough to have a voice now. I think this year I may have my thousandth student.

Now while that may not seem like a whole lot, time does add up. I get almost 150 hours of face time per student, so that's about 150,000 hours of contact time total, over 17 years worth.

I used to be a pediatrician--I saw way more than 1000 kids, but those who I spent the most time with, well, died. The chronically ill and the dying need a lot of time, and need a lot of love.

Healthy kids had no need for me beyond a few vaccines and some safety advice, and the safety advice was probably superfluous.
 

So I teach now.
17 years of contact, 17 years of a chance to make a difference.

Why else teach?