I have never felt like a victim,rather an overcomer! I overcame a childhood of verbal and physical abuse from a violent mother, didn't know my father (met him when Iwas 30) poverty (no phone car refrigerator, tub or shower) in a 120-year old tenement house with bad neighbors, molested, then a 31 year abusive marriage (got a divorce), then abuse from a church. I took all of the "ashes" of my life and kept on going, my life story won a scholarship, and I started school at 60.