“You have no integrity,” she snapped at me as I sat, quietly embarrassed, in the back corner of the class where she had moved me away from all of my friends. This was the treatment I received daily from the most unprofessional, irresponsible, narcissistic, tyrannical teacher I have ever experienced in person. You have all been there, staring into the demonic eyes of your mortal enemy who hides behind their position of power and college degree. You sit there, waiting patiently for the day to come when you can really tell them how you feel and, potentially, retaliate. Unfortunately for me, and I’m sure most of you out there, that day has not yet come and will probably never come. To you, the evil person who was sent from hell to my high school for one year to make my life on earth a living nightmare, I hope that you stumble upon this article and, for once in your life, get an alien feeling known as empathy. Maybe, for once in your life, you will consider how your actions make the victims, who are unfortunate enough to be in your presence, feel after you reminisce on all of our terrible times together. This letter is dedicated to all of the innocent victims who have been locked in a torture chamber of a classroom as I was by a heartless, abusive “teacher” who slowly robbed you of any fond memories of class or learning and replaced them with vivid episodes of your nightmares.
Look at me now. Thanks to you, English used to be my least favorite subject. I literally feared going to class. Now I am the Editor-in-Chief of a news site and one of my favorite subjects is classic literature. The moral of the story here is that you were wrong -- I can be successful and I do have integrity. My work ethic will determine my options in life, not your false preconceived notions of my character.
To all my readers in school or out of school, you have all had at least one teacher that has singled you out as the student that they just do not like. Understand that the teacher is acting on his or her own symptoms of insecurity and, most importantly, that they are not right in what they are doing. However, remember that they are the figure of the authority in this scenario and, that in a situation where it goes to their word against yours, they will most likely win. Understand that the best way to deal with these people is with help early on and to, otherwise, just roll with the punches.
To all of the teachers, bosses, and figures of authority that abuse your power and put down people who you are supposed to lift up, take a long look at yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself what makes you happy in life. If the answer is really bullying defenseless students or employees, then you need help. Hopefully the answer is making other people happy. Then you can and (hopefully) will change your ways.
