A man was left shocked after receiving a message from his childhood bully apologizing for teasing him when they were children.
The 28-year-old said the message came ‘out of the blue’ via Facebook and made his day, so he replied forgiving the woman.
She said she was “incredibly sorry” for being a “little bully” and saying “mean things” to him as she rode past his house on her bike.
The man said that while he took the bullying to heart at the time and even changed schools as a result, he now looks back and laughs.
A message came in from what the man thought was a stranger, asking if he attended a certain 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 her harassment, but now looks back and laughs
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for how I treated you as a child. I remember riding my bike down your street and saying mean things. I was just a little bully,” the woman responded.
‘For years I felt so bad and I wish I could take it all back. I honestly don’t even know why I did it!’
She said she remembers the man being nice to everyone at school and that her bullying was “not personal” as she was a “troubled young girl.”
“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 has a young daughter and wants to teach her to be kind to everyone.
The mother said she was ‘incredibly sorry’ for her actions when she was a child and hopes he can forgive her (stock image)
‘It’s one of the most important things in our house. So again, I am so incredibly sorry for my actions and the pain it caused,” she said.
The man explained that the mother was part of a group of girls who would bully him as a child “for all kinds of reasons.”
“A big one was that my family took in a lot of stray cats and couldn’t afford to get them fixed, so they kept having babies, and we ended up having a lot of cats,” he explained.
‘They told me I smelled like cat litter and cat s*** and called me a litter box boy. Somehow they found out which street I lived on and came to my house on their bikes together to mess with me when I was playing with the neighbors.’
He said he laughs about it now as an adult, even though it was “bad” at the time, and eventually even changed schools because of the harassment.
Regardless of the pain caused, the man accepted his former bully’s apology.
“It’s very kind of you to say that and I really appreciate it, you made my morning,” he replied.
‘Don’t be too hard on yourself. Children can be cruel and insensitive and I would be lying if I said I never said or did something I regretted as a child. I was doing well.’
He even went so far as to say that the woman’s daughter is lucky to have such a “mature and kind” mother.
‘I never want people to be hurt by my actions. I hate the thought of that so much. And it sounds like you turned out great! You’re still so nice,” the woman wrote back after asking if he remembered her.
He said he remembered her and hid in his house to avoid being bullied.
The sweet conversation was shared to Reddit and generated hundreds of comments applauding the mother for apologizing.
“It takes some guts to admit and apologize for something that happened as a child,” one user said.
‘She’s doing well. My hat is off to her. It takes some courage and determination to reach out after all these years. I guess it just shows how much her own bad behavior must have eaten away at her,” wrote another.
“Good job on her, most bullies never apologize. You don’t have to forgive, but it takes courage to acknowledge your asshole behavior and apologize for it,” a third agreed.
“The world needs more of this,” one person added.