Inferior Girl

“You’re stupid,ugly and inferior. Nobody likes you.” Annie heard these words and others like them every single day for the first fifteen years of her life, running through her brain like a mantra. Her older sister knew everything, so it must be true. Growing up in the middle of a large Catholic military family in the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s, Annie learned how to disappear silently when her older brother and sister said hurtful things or swung a baseball bat, trying to hurt her. She could run fast and sometimes managed to stay out of trouble. But when she tried to tell her parents what was going on, they scolded her for being so negative. Only positive, uplifting statements could be made, they declared, and branded her a liar. Annie felt desperate; who would believe her? Her reputation was being trashed and her parents thought she was a troublemaker. Then, just when she thought things couldn’t get worse – they did.