your inspiration for the day

Okay teachers, church volunteers, school employees...the whole lot of you. Here's your weepy inspiration for the day...

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE
Ina Hughes

We are responsible
for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere,
who like to be tickled,
who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,
who sneak Popsicle's before dinner,
who erase holes in their math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.

But we are also responsible for those who stare at photographers from
behind broken windows,
who can't bound down the street in a pair of sneakers,
who never "counted potatoes,"
who are born in places where we wouldn't be caught dead,
who live in an X-rated world.

We are responsible for children
who bring us sticky kisses
and fistfuls of dandelions,
who sleep with the dogs and bury goldfish,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money,
who cover themselves with Band-Aids and sing off key,
who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
who slurp their soup.

But we are also responsible for those who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them suffer,
who don't have rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
whose monsters are real.

We are responsible for children who spend
all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store
and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothing under the bed,
and never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church and scream on the phone,
whose tears sometimes make us laugh,
and whose smiles can make us cry.

And we are responsible for those whose
nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren't spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We are responsible for children who want to be carried
and for those who must,
for those we never give up on
for those who don't get a second chance.
For those we smother and
for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind
enough to offer it.