Article May 27, 2002 Issue

Sexual abuse—a license to hate?

By Bea Roegge

Even while writing about it today, the memory is distasteful. I was a preteen sitting in the back seat of a car, parked in the business center of our small town.

Several adults were in the car, visiting. The older man beside me began touching me inappropriately. It was dark, and my father, who was sitting on the other side of the man, had no idea what was happening. I was too naive and embarrassed to stop him or to say anything. I hated that man for many years. When we would drive past his house, I'd always look the other way.

This is the first time I've told anyone what happened so long ago. I no longer hate the man, but I spent too many years feeling a legitimate, but corrosive, hatred for him. This experience, minor compared to what others have suffered, has given me great compassion for young people who have experienced sexual abuse.

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