My abuse began in 1961 when I was an 8th grade student at Pierce Junior High School in Redford Township, Michigan. My abuser was my business teacher, the boy's gym teacher & boy's athletic coach. As I prepared to leave junior high school & move on to Thurston High School, my abuser invited me to babysit for his family. That invitation led to a 3-year babysitting experience in Michigan & then another invitation to move with his family to Virginia and become their live-in babysitter, so he could accept a high school principal job there. I became my abuser's "sexual toy" soon after he recruited me to babysit in Michigan & maintained that role for a long time thereafter. At this time, I've decided to share part of my story with the following poem. At a later time, I may decide to share the other details of my story & the impact the abuse has had on my life, so others can gain from my experience...

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Loss of Trust

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Some have experienced loss,
Through the death of a dear loved one;
An elderly mother or father,
A sister, a daughter or even an infant son.

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Others have experienced a different kind of loss,
And claim to have felt very deep pain;
After "losing it all" in the stock market,
Following significant financial gain.

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My loss that I shall share,
Is loss of a different form;
One happening far too often,
And quickly becoming a societal norm.

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My loss was the loss of trust,
Taken from me at an early age;
By the sexual abuse of a teacher,
Whose advances toward me led to years of hidden rage.

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It started when he noticed,
That I looked up to him so very much;
My admiration for him as a teacher & friend,
Was responded to with inappropriate attention & touch.

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It began in junior high school,
When I was thirteen & he was thirty-one;
His popularity as a teacher & winning coach,
Had many students & parents quite pleased with what he had done.

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But, at the same time he was charming so many,
With his victories on the basketball court & baseball field;
He was taking from me my ability to trust others,
A loss that would forever in my life be sealed.

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Although my experience of the loss I have shared,
Has adversely impacted my life;
I've been blessed with a meaningful way,
To reduce the impact of those long years of strife.

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For I was given the opportunity,
To work in the field of preventing such abuse;
And know that my efforts kept many a young child,
From ever fearing that such hidden rage would someday let loose.

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I'm thankful for having been able,
To redirect that hidden rage toward a positive cause;
I pray daily that I will continue to be used,
To keep kids from the reach of such teacher's harmful claws.