You never know how much you may be helping, even with kids you do not think you are reaching at all. Especially with those kids. The most difficult kid, or the most indifferent student may in fact be drinking you up like a fountain of life. Particularly these days, when so many young people are not getting what they need at home, teachers can fill a void, even without knowing it or meaning to. All you really have to do is exist, and do the job you've always done.
Times are tough.
In fact, times have been tough for kids, at least for some kids, for as long as there have been kids. The connections teachers make with students save lives every day. That is the truth. Unfortunately, the disconnections can cost lives as well. I know kids' problems firsthand.