To question the validity of my teachers through the years

Is to question the following lessons I hear:

There was one to crush my dreams

And one to learn I won't make teams

One for understanding the value of sentiment

And one to show me to feel valiant

One to make me cry for hours

And one to teach that love, once found, falls in showers

One to teach me to tread light on my feet

And one to show that respect is a one-way street.

How do I thank you for the sentiments

The advice, the caring, the (short-lived) valiance?

How do I show you the remains of dreams

Once bursting at seems

Now only quarter-hearted schemes?

How do I blame you for the loss of ability

Once held with dignity

Now bulging enmity?

How do I hold you accountable for the tears

Thrice fallen that year

Now hiding in every mirror?

How do I apologize for the shame

Of awful words of blame

In our hate-me-hate-you game?

How do I get past the lesson of respect

One no others reflect

Never one to forget?

I suppose deep down that I should know

All lessons are worthy of being learned

But some lessons boil--nay, scald so

That the learner is too burned

To feel she's earned

The right to learn