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Chapter 3 I suffer from severe selective mutism
Graduation
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[School memories]
Before graduation, we school children had to write an essay about school memories. The essay would appear in yearbook.
Most classmates had pleasant memories and wrote them. But I didn't have such memories. I don't know whether that was because I suffered from selective mutism.
In the end, I wrote a memory of Gasshuku (a Japanese word that means "lodging together"). Although Gasshuku was a painful event for me, I wrote that Gasshuku was one of the most pleasant memory.
[Graduation ceremony]
The graduation ceremony was held in gymnasium in late March. We received our diploma from principal.
Then we returned to classroom. Our homeroom teacher said a final farewell to us.
And lastly, we handed carnations to our teacher one at a time. Handing carnations, almost all classmates said "Arigatou gozaimashita" (Thank you very much) to him.
But only I handed a carnation to him without uttering a word. I also wanted to thank him, but I couldn't.
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In this way, I graduated from elementary school.
I suffered from selective mutism when I was the fourth grade. Since then, three years had passed. But my mutism didn't disappear. Even worsened.
I went on to junior high school without curing selective mutism.
(To be continued to the next chapter)
Index of SM story
