Today I’m grateful for the Karens in my life.

11.8.2023

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The Karens of the world have gotten a bit of a bad rap the past couple of years. I’ve heard all the jokes and seen all the memes. “Karen” has become synonymous with a middle-aged, entitled woman who demands to speak to the manager the second she doesn’t get her way. You can buy “Don’t be a Karen” t-shirts and mugs and greeting cards. There’s even a stereotypical hairstyle that’s been assigned to the name. Whoever started this has certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of it, and unfortunately calling someone a “Karen” has become the ultimate insult of the early 2020s.

Not cool.

And from my experience, so not true.

I’m not even referring to myself here. I happen to know quite a few Karens, and every single one of them is delightful. As a group, I’d characterize the Karens in my life as kind and genuine and caring. There’s not a single entitled one in the crowd.

I had the absolute pleasure of interacting with 3 such Karens today.

On Wednesdays I’m fortunate to have an amazing volunteer in my classroom. Miss Karen, as the kids call her, has become a dear friend over the past couple of years and she is definitely one of the sweetest, kindest, and most thoughtful people I know. I look forward to Wednesdays each week because of her. Today she helped with a painting project in my classroom, even staying later than she’d planned in order to help wash brushes and wipe down tables. She is truly a gem.

After school, I was able to steal a quick hug from another awesome Karen. This Karen also teaches at my school. Our paths don’t cross every day since our classrooms are on opposite sides of the school, but every time I see her she has a smile on her face which she gladly shares with anyone and everyone around her. She’s not only a rockstar math teacher, but she loves kids big (which automatically earns her cool points in my book). This Karen is a model of strength, and I admire her more than she knows.

And finally, I had dinner tonight with yet another Karen. We caught up and talked and shared lovely conversation, and our time spent together was the perfect ending to my day. This Karen has a quick wit that can always make me laugh, is the ultimate lover of all animals, and serves as a model of faith in action that I aspire to be.

I’m tellin’ ya, society’s Karen narrative is all wrong. I submit the above examples A, B and C as evidence. And these are just the ones I interacted with today. I have more Karens I could tell you about too – all of them phenomenal.

The moral of the story here… Karens are cool. I’m certainly grateful for all of mine, and no joke, meme or catch-phrase will convince me otherwise.