Seeing all these people, from the medical forces, military and barangay workers risk their lives in the frontlines battling an invisible enemy is both tragic and inspiring at the same time. They have one foot on the grave already while they protect the rest of us from putting an inch of a finger on the same grave. As civilians, locking ourselves is seen as our contribution. As teachers, surely we are not train to cure and that is an acceptable excuse. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play in this war.
Our part lies behind the frontlines. Technically, our expertise is outside the medical field. We are not equipped to join the frontlines in assessing and testing the patients. Our expertise is in education. We are equipped to teach. The responsibility to inform is what we are held accountable to. We should teach our students, the members of our family and our community in any way possible of what we should do and we should be amidst the crisis. Although we are limited with physical contact like others, our presence in media is a powerful tool not only that informs but also preserves the engagement of people around us.
With that being said, our responsibility is to be both be a reliable source of information for other people and be critical eye for misinformation. There will always be people who cannot directly access the mainstream media for information in the community. And as one of these people who can, we can be the bridge to people who cannot. During these times, the rise of fake news is at peak. As teachers, seen as people of credibility, it is one of our duties to debunk misinformation that creates confusion and chaos. This is how we support for the frontlines. As they scramble face to face with the enemy, barricading the rest of us, we should pacify and maintain order through our influence and education in our community.
Being a teacher means having an ethos. We are put in a pedestal of credibility and authority within our community. We are role models. And the in this crisis, people needs someone to look up to. We should be the first group of person that actively follows the rules because we are influencing the community around us. Not to take anything away from barangay workers including tanods, we have far greater capability to make people follow although we are not capable of roaming outside. Through our own ways, from facebook posts, text messages, confrontations and the mere act of following the rules and regulations is our own way to support the frontlines.
The biggest threat isn’t the fatality of the Covid-19 virus itself, but how it cut the legs of everyone to battle it. The biggest threat is hence the challenge for the humanity on how we can face it when the biggest contribution we could provide is to do nothing. The biggest challenge thus is how we can contribute to the war against an invisible enemy when only few people are allowed to hold the swords and syringes as we locked ourselves so they can protect us.
By being an active follower of rules, a source of credible information, a critical eye for misinformation, we are influencing our community in a manner that a teacher can. Our part in this war is being a force pacifying and leading the rest of us while the frontlines do their part. That is where a teacher should be.