Diary of a Student Teacher: Breakups, Compassion, and Dogfighting

As she was breaking up with me, a woman once told me she loved me. "Why?" I asked. "Because I know you." In the moment, that felt like the worst reason I could imagine. I wanted it to be about some singular quality I had, some special niche in my mind or eddy in my heart. After all, she could have known anybody. I was on the receiving end of a breakup, and her words carried exactly the double-edged message I didn't want to hear. I care for you, but that care is beginning to shrink, to stretch th...