“You won’t tell anyone? If you do, I could get in a lot of trouble so you’re not going to share OUR secret will you?”

“No, I wont tell anyone.  I’ll keep this to myself.  I’ll keep our secret”

There.  I said it.  I just made a promise to my high school music teacher to keep this secret, and many more....

It was more than three decades before I decided not to keep my music teacher’s secret anymore.  Finally in my late 40’s I felt strong enough to share, first with the Ottawa police then with the world, the abuse I had suffered for over two and a half years in high school.  After I went public the question I was asked most in various ways was, “Why did I stay silent for so many years?”  The answer is not as simple as the question, there are many reasons why but the root cause was because I was groomed by my teacher for years.  He was, like all sexual predators, a skilled manipulator.  He was able to groom both his many victims and the adults around him for decades.