Midnight, Alone in the Empty Kindergarten

I've worked in a kindergarten for more than ten years — from an ordinary teacher, step by step, to vice principal.

In my early years, nothing frightened me like the parents. Once, a small squabble between two children brought a furious parent straight to the school, demanding answers. I stood there, hands useless, unable to finish a sentence. Back then, facing parents of every temper, I always shrank a little.

The years wore that away, slowly. No one quite understands this work from the outside — the joy of days spent among so many children, and the quiet triumph of tasks that land, one after another, and get done, one after another.

There is one night I still think about. I had stayed very late, and the setup for our event was finally finished. I stood alone in the empty kindergarten, looking at everything my own hands had completed. It was so quiet. And inside, I was lit.

Problems will keep coming — that's work. But I know something now that the young teacher didn't: as long as the light is mine, nothing can stand in my way.

— Radiant