‘How dare he?’
Eric was 11 years old when the headmaster called him up to the front of the school
and announced in front of everyone, ‘Here is a worthless, stupid boy who will never
make anything of himself ’. The incident had dogged him for years. When I met him,
he was 47 years old.
Under hypnosis he recalled the original incident. Tears streamed down his face. He
then re-enacted the scene, but this time told the head very forcefully, ‘Oh no I’m
not! You’re out of order. Apologise!’ He imagined the headmaster on his knees in
front of him, grovelling.
Now he smiles at the memory. ‘The stupid man’, he says. ‘How dare he speak to
me, or any other young person, like that?’
21 LET GO OF THE PAST