34-yr-old man gets 3 AM apology from his childhood bully after over 20 years—his response wins the internet
Bullying leaves a long-lasting impact on the victims. In some cases, the perpetrator might feel guilty for what they did in the past and for the harm they caused to innocent souls. However, not every bullying victim gets to receive an apology for what they endured. A 34-year-old man got an unexpected apology from his childhood bully for what happened over 20 years ago. So the man, Ryan, shared the 3 AM text he had received from his former bully and also revealed how he responded to it on Reddit, where he goes by u/CG1991.
"I don't know if I ever apologized for my part in the bullying, Ryan. But I am so sorry," the text began. "I can't even imagine how much it would have been for the victims because honestly, I still think about the kind of kid I was." The woman explained that things were really tough for her at home and as an adult, she realized that "kids play up elsewhere when things are not okay at home. Also, you don't realize the impact you are having as a child, but that isn't an excuse at all." She felt really upset while seeing cases of bullying as an adult and realized that she was a "perpetrator once." The note concluded with, "I am sincerely sorry!"
In a comment, the man pointed out that the person had bullied him between the ages of 9 to 13, and they hadn't talked to each other in 20+ years. In another comment, he revealed, "It's been 20+ years and we've never run into each other in that time. So a message is fine. We're grabbing a coffee, though, and we're going to talk. Now, if she steals my coffee money and calls me a nerd, then that was the ultimate power move." He also shared his response to the message. "I've told them all is forgiven, and they need to live their best life going forward." People loved how the situation turned out to be for the bullied man.
u/StatisticianSmall864 wrote, "One of my school bullies (small school, the same four girls tormented me for 13 years) apologized to me a few years ago. She was never the instigator and she explained that she was so scared of being bullied that she went along with the other three to hide her own weaknesses. She said she was sorry and that she hoped I was doing well. Even went out of her way to say I didn’t have to forgive her if I wasn’t okay with her apology. We ended up being friendly since then."
u/cherrycityglass commented, "I had this happen in person over the summer. I was back home for a community celebration and the person who bullied me to the point of being suicidal in elementary school approached me and apologized. We both cried and hugged. I immediately forgave her without a thought about it. As an adult, I can see the amount of hurt that she was going through and I'm sad for her; her life didn't get better for a long time. It felt like a burden off my mind once I said, 'I forgive you.'" u/calgmtl07 remarked, "Met a dude at bar in early adulthood and we had a similar experience. He bought me a beer and apologized; we caught up. Felt good for both."