Being Silenced

When I was in Junior High a teacher I will never forget said some horrible things that I disputed, not because I was yet a rebel (that came later), but because it contradicted what I learned at home. She loathed me, talked to all her teacher friends, who made my life miserable, even going so far as lowering my grades if I was absent more than a few days each marking quarter. Eventually my parents moved to get me out of that school district. But I had learned my lesson: to keep my mouth closed. It was dangerous to express an opinion. To do so would certainly make me very lonely in this new school as well. It took years for me to speak out. When a friend dragged me to a political meeting at Sarah Lawrence College, where I was a student, I realized I had not talked about my beliefs with anyone who was ‘new’ in my life for years. I had never been in a room filled with people who believed as I did. I found comfort there, and began to discover my own voice after years of silence.