When I Was Four, My Mother Left Me Alone in a Church—Twenty Years Later She Returned Crying, “We Need You”

The abandonment merely made the lesson necessary.

Important distinction.

If I could speak to the four-year-old on the pew, I would not tell her:

Don’t worry, this will make you strong.

What a cruel thing to ask of a child.

I would sit beside her.

Tell her:

They should not have done this.