Bullying has been a huge topic this past week. Over the past week I took the time to think about how bullying has impacted my life and if given the chance, what would I say to my former bullies from my teenage years.
Words can impact us so greatly and hurt and wound us to the core of our soul. I remember how I would think of these people as monsters and how I felt that they needed to be punished for their actions. I spent some time reflecting on this, and if I were to see them again, what would I say?
It would be interesting to find out, what was going on for them in their lives during that time. How did they feel about themselves? What was their home life like? I even wondered if I would still view them as horrible monsters. Would they be remorseful? Would they even remember me? And the big questions I would ask is, “why?”. My hope is that they would apologize and that they would have had a good life full of happiness and meaning.
If you had the opportunity to talk to your previous bully or bullies, what would you like ask? What would you need from them to be able to let go?
Hopefully a restorative and collaborative conversation would be able to help both sides heal and move on.
Mediation Services - Thinking Out Loud 