By Yosef Michael on September 30, 2025.

One of these days, I might compile all the experiences I have written about and put them in chronological order, filling in the details I left out, such as the ones I am writing about in the following two paragraphs. I write about my experiences to heal myself and share in hopes that others who have experienced any one trauma I have will also heal. My focus is on healing, not complaining.

From the time I was five (1971) until I was eight (1973), the kids and I at my school were robbed and attempted robbery by a high school kid. I eventually outsmarted him, which is why I added the attempted robbery. I put my money (coins) in my mouth, so when he made us turn out our pockets, he didn’t find anything. Now, schools have accounts for each student, and parents prepay rather than giving the money to their children.

The robbery and attempted robbery ended when the robber got arrested for rapping my baby sitter in the experience I wrote about in the foreword of my first book, “It Has Been an Interesting Life.” Page 9, beginning at line four from the top of the page, excerpt in [brackets] below.

[When I was around eight, I was traumatized! A young, emotionally disturbed man jumped over the fence at my baby sister’s house. She was about thirteen years old, and from my perspective, she panicked and told us to quickly go into her parents’ room, then locked the bedroom door.

However, we should have run out the front door yelling fire! People love to see a fire, but not many want to interfere with a violent, emotionally disturbed man, especially one as intense and scary as he was!

She told her brother and me to hide in the closet as she pressed her body against the door. He kept banging on the door until he knocked it open. We could hear him yelling at her and hitting her! He opened the closet, grabbed me, put a knife to my throat, and said, “You better not tell anyone, or else I will kill you!” He slammed the closet door shut, raped her, and eventually left.

The police caught him and brought him back in the rear seat of their car for us to identify him; I was so scared as he stared at me with threatening eyes, and I checked out of this world for a long time mentally and emotionally!

I did not receive any counseling, and my fear overwhelmed me. I had anxiety and a lack of confidence; I developed learning disabilities. At age thirteen, I started using tobacco products, marijuana, alcohol, and other drugs. In my early twenties, I got arrested and jailed several times for being under the influence of cocaine. As of today, I have 34 years and 15 days off drugs.

It doesn’t have to, but in my case, it has taken a lot of time to heal as much as I have now. Most of my healing has come from being honest with myself about my past and facing the facts as they are, not wishing these things had never happened, but seeing them as temporary detours on my life’s journey.

I have been talking with psychologists for about two years, and now that I am facing my traumas, it has accelerated my healing progress. Now, I view my traumas as detours that have increased my knowledge, caused me to develop a stronger character, and become a more forgiving person. 

When I write about an experience, I typically only include the details that are most relevant to the healing experience that came after I overcame the experience I wrote about. Today, I have just begun to heal from this part of my life’s many traumas, so I am now writing about it.