As I am sure you know, West Virginian educators are on strike (click the hyperlink to read about it in USA Today) in protest to poor treatment monetarily, in regards to insurance coverage, and in regards to the lack of respect they face, despite being the people who are teaching future generations.

We, West Virginians, are creating a moment in history.

I will not be explaining what is going on technically with the strike (which is why I have linked an article that does above), I will be talking about the overwhelming response of support and solidarity from countries around the world that have brought tears to my eyes.

People from Ghana, Norway, Thailand, Germany, multiple cities across the US, the Philippines, and many more have heard us. They are supporting us and standing with us. I have seen tweets and Facebook posts that display raised fists, big smiles, and signs proclaiming solidarity and declaring the value of the people teaching our children, and they have brought tears to my eyes because they told me that this issue is not localized to our state. The world has seen our plight and is fighting with us.

I, as a West Virginian woman, am living history.

I will be honest when I say that when I have thought of trying to speak out for things I care about, I have felt somewhat as if I were shouting to the void because the cries of West Virginia have been overlooked for years. But time is up.

West Virginia's voice is like the shot heard 'round the world that sparked a revolution, only this time, we know who fired it.

Even if our representatives will not listen, the world already has. The countries and cities standing with us see themselves in West Virginia, they are reminded of all the times the hand of another power over them tried to suppress the cries of protest pouring from their mouths and they will not let us fight alone. We are no longer some small, "backward" state that is stuck in the Appalachian mountains with no voice because our country roads have walked around the world.

These country roads that raised me, that make me feel at home, that I am no longer ashamed of because of what the world told me about my accent, my coal mining lineage, and my history, are bringing people together to fight for our cause.

But all I could think of was, "somebody heard us". Somebody heard our angry cries, they saw our picket-lines at the capital, and they wanted to help us. Tears welled as I realized that people did care about my state and that we were no longer the butt of a joke.

Our voice did not go unheard just this once because our country roads walked around the world.

N.B. The cover photo is of the first teachers' strike in West Virginia in 1990