I admit it—I have a bad habit of picking fights with authority figures to test whether they have integrity or not. But this is the first time someone I’ve criticized in the personal growth world has actually responded with maturity and integrity in a way that felt satisfying to me.

My bad habit probably stems from having numerous authority figures as a kid lacking integrity or even basic intelligence. In middle school I was often bullied and the teachers and administrators were totally unresponsive to my pleas for help. My parents were loving, but didn’t understand the extent to which I was harrassed verbally and physically all day, every day—from the time I got on the bus to the time I got off the bus at the end of the day. During my 6th grade social studies class, a classmate of mine literally spit on me the entire class, every day, and I couldn’t get him to stop or the teacher to stop eating donuts, pause the movies he played for us every day, and listen to me. So one day I fought back. (more…)