What would you do if a bully from your past reached out to you via social media to apologize? One woman shared a moving post online about her complicated emotions when confronted with this situation. In the sixth grade, a boy had broken her glasses on purpose just to hurt and belittle her in front of their peers. 14 years later, he reached out to her to tell her that he was sorry.
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In his message, this former bully explained why he felt compelled to apologize after all this time. Apparently, he now had a child of his own — a three-year-old daughter who was about to get her first eyewear. This made him think about how he had once hurt a young glasses-wearer just like his little girl.
“He said he couldn’t ever handle the idea of someone doing that to her,” the woman wrote in her post.
It’s not always easy to forgive someone who hurt you.
At first, the social media user struggled to forgive her bully, even though he was trying to apologize. After all, this person had made things really difficult for her as a child. However, she knew that it must have taken a lot of personal growth for this man to recognize what he’d done. It was also an incredibly validating experience to see this guy finally admit that he’d treated her badly.
“My first instinct was to tell him to get lost, but I realized I was getting what I always prayed for,” the woman said. “I just wanted the people who were mean to me to eventually understand it — even if it took a personal experience to relate to and 14 years to open their eyes.”
After her bully apologized, this lady decided to give him some advice to help him take care of his daughter and her new glasses. After all, she knew what it was like to be that young and already getting used to eyewear. In her post, she shared that “a piece of me healed” during this experience.
In the comments section, the woman added that she would never try to force another person to forgive someone who had hurt them. However, she did hope that her story would inspire others!
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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