Article content DEAR ABBY: My elementary school teacher passed away recently. I hadn’t seen her in more than 20 years because of how she made me feel. I remember her as manipulative and having a negative attitude toward the less fortunate.
Because I didn’t come from a rich or prominent family, I was subjected to humiliation, fear and intimidation. I remember her as money-driven, judgmental and favouring the privileged, who she believed to be smarter. Because I had dyslexia, I had difficulties reading and interpreting words, so she made me stand and face shame for hours.
Now that she is dead, I realize I never had the chance to tell her how wrong she was, and that in middle school my negative attitude toward education changed for the better because I had excellent teachers and great classmates. Those individuals who are eulogizing her now are the same ones she promoted and favoured. I just wish I could speak my piece because many were mistreated.
— SCARRED IN TEXAS DEAR SCARRED: I think you have stated your feelings very well. This teacher may not have recognized she had a student with a learning disability and punished you when she should have realized instead that what you needed to succeed was extra help. Consider her inability to deal with it properly HER learning disability, and try to forgive her.
You have turned out very well despite her, and it is time to evict her from your head. RECOMMENDED VIDEO DEAR ABBY: Is there any way I can help my 55-year-old daughter, w.