Junior high is not a good time. I don't care how magical your extremely awkward, tongueless, lips-pursed first kiss at the middle school dance was. It probably still kinda sucked. Dealing with 12-year-old boys was annoying, as were raging hormones and training bras without underwire. But far worse from any of that were the junior high bullies. If you could go back and ask the biggest bully in your school for an apology, would you? And if you did, would he or she even respond? This bully apologized on Facebook 20 years later for the torment he'd caused a fellow student. (A lovely moment of forgiveness brought to you by the Digital Age. Pretty sure we can all thank Mark Zuckerberg for this one.)
Chad Michael Morrisette (not Chad Michael Murray, as I originally thought) is now a 34-year-old brand consultant in Los Angeles. He grew up in Alaska, where he was bullied by the entire football team, including Louie Admundson. Morisette left Alaska when he was 15, and things have been much better since. He hasn't stopped to consider the bullies in the past—until he got a Facebook message from Admundson a few weeks ago.
Admundson admitted that while teaching his daughter about bullies, he felt uncomfortable not coming clean about how awful he was to Morrisette. So he tracked Morrisette down on Facebook to apologize. Yahoo! published their entire conversation.
Admundson said:
Hey Chad,
II was recently talking with my 10 year old daughter about bullies. She asked me if I ever bullied anyone and sadly I had to say "yes". What came to mind is how s***y and mean I was to you when we were in Jr. High. I want to apologize. If we lived in the same state I would apologize to your face. I don't even know if you remember, but I do and I am sorry.
Morrisette responded:
Louie,
I'm quite moved by this. Thank you and accept your apology. In 20 years you are the only person to apologize for being a bully to me when we were younger. I hope you can proudly tell your daughter that you have also apologized for it, and that we are good. It's amazing what 20 years and children can do to us, no? Thank you again, and I hope you stand up to bullying anytime you see it. Have a great day!
ChadMichael
Morrisette said he didn't remember Admundson specifically, because there were too many bullies to keep track of. He sincerely appreciated Admundson reaching out after 20 years and told Yahoo! Parenting, “It unlocked something in me I didn’t realize I’d been holding onto. I cried a little bit. It was so moving.”
Image: Bustle Stock Photo
