A man was left shocked after receiving a message from his childhood bully apologizing for teasing him when they were kids.
The 28-year-old said the message came “out of nowhere” via Facebook and made his day, so he responded by forgiving the woman.
She said she was “incredibly sorry” for being a “little bully” and saying “mean things” to him as she cycled past his house.
The man said that although he took the bullying to heart at the time and even ended up changing schools because of it, he looks back now and laughs.
A message came from what the man thought was a stranger asking if he had gone to a particular school, to which he replied that he had until fourth grade.
A man was shocked when he received a lengthy apology from his childhood bully. He had to change schools because of his bullying, but now he looks back and laughs
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for the way I treated you when I was a child. I remember riding my bike down your street saying mean things. I was just a little bully,” the woman replied.
‘For years I felt so bad and I wish I could take it all back. Honestly, I don’t even know why I did it!’
She said she remembered the man being nice to everyone at school and said his bullying was “not personal” because she was a “young girl with problems”.
“I hope you can forgive me, even though I probably don’t deserve it. I often think about what I did,” she said.
The mother added that she now had a young daughter and wanted to teach her to be kind to everyone.
The mother said she was ‘incredibly sorry’ for her actions as a child and hoped he could forgive her (stock image)
“It’s one of the most important things in our house. Once again, I am incredibly sorry for my actions and the pain they have caused,” she said.
The man said his mother was part of a group of girls who bullied him as children “for a multitude of reasons.”
“The biggest thing being that my family took in a lot of stray cats and couldn’t afford to care for them, so they kept having babies, and we ended up with a lot of cats,” she said. he explains.
“They would tell me I smelled like cat litter and cat shit and call me the cat litter boy. Somehow they found out what street I lived on and would get together and ride their bikes to my house to bother me when I was playing with my neighbors.
He said he laughs about it now as an adult, even though it “sucked” at the time and even ended up changing schools because of the bullying.
Regardless of the pain caused, the man accepted his former bully’s apology.
“That’s really nice of you to say that and I appreciate it, you made my morning,” he replied.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. Children can be cruel and insensitive and I’d be lying if I said I never said or did anything I regret growing up. I did well.
He even went so far as to say that this woman’s daughter is lucky to have such a “mature and kind” mother.
“I never want people to suffer because of my actions. I hate this thought so much. And it looks like you did great! You’re so nice though,” the woman replied after asking him if he remembered her.
He said he remembered her and was hiding at home to avoid being teased.
The sweet exchange was shared on Reddit and sparked hundreds of responses applauding the mother for her apology.
“It takes courage to admit and apologize for something that happened when you were a child,” one user said.
“She’s making amends. I take my hat off to him. It takes courage and courage to reach out after all these years. I think this shows how much her own bad behavior must have eaten away at her,” another wrote.
“Of course, most bullies never apologize. You don’t have to forgive, but it takes courage to recognize your asshole behavior and apologize for it,” a third agreed.
“The world needs more of this,” someone added.
