I Did Not Know

It was a hot, stuffy summer evening in my thirteen or early fourteenth year. It was also the night I would hear something so radical It would leave me speechless.
A few of the neighborhood kids were playing in Chris Roes' tent. I don't recall the manner in which it all began as Chris was not even my boyfriend, but we began kissing. I remember laying stiff and unfeeling as he slid his hand up under my shirt and fondled my young breasts. His lips were cold and stiff and left mine sticky from the sucker he had been eating. Voices calling some kids home broke things up so I made my way down the street. I saw my brother Pat and his girlfriend Beth sitting on a neighbors front stoop. Beth was older, almost sixteen. I looked up to her, she was one of my first "cool" friends. I went shoplifting with her once and was caught, humiliated, and then grounded.
Beth called me to the side and asked me what I did with Chris. I gave her the details wondering why she asked.
"Why?" she asked.
Confused I just said "Huh?"
"You don't have to let someone do something to you if you don't want them to."
I was stunned. Speechless. Confused. I was never told I had the right to say no before. At what age was that right given out? I had been so accustomed to being taken advantage of from childhood that the concept of "no" eluded me.
I stared at her for what seemed an eternity then whispered, "No, I didn't know."
"I had a feeling" she said.
Nothing more was spoken about it between us, nothing more needed to be.
My eyes were open, but I felt dirty. Why had I not figured this out on my own sooner? At what age could I have started enforcing this rule? Who told Beth of this power? Did everyone know but me? Did it work on everyone?

I was not a child anymore. Thank you Beth


Remember......teach your children well. They may be called to teach sooner than you know.