Regret

Yesterday's post reminded me of an unfortunate incident in the sixth grade. As we read books, we were supposed to look for words that we didn't know, look them up, write down the definitions, and turn them in.

I was reading The Outsiders, and I didn't find any words I didn't know. My teacher didn't believe me. She picked up a copy of the book, opened it to a random page, found the word "rue," and asked me what it meant.

"Regret," I thought to myself. "But my teacher must know something I don't know. I must be wrong." So I didn't say anything. I probably shrugged.

"Regret," she said. "It means regret."

Yeah. Regret. And yet, she taught me to trust what I know.