An Open Letter To My Bullies: Thank You For Making Me Strong

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/648IGlEEyZg/

“The heart is like a garden: it can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?” ~Jack Kornfield

Dear Bullies,

To be honest, I didn’t think I would ever write you a letter. As far as I was concerned, the amount of suffering I went through during my school years was enough to make me bitter.

I didn’t forgive you, and I most certainly wasn’t about to forget.

I remember those years like it was yesterday—the cruel name calling; the scrutinizing of how I looked, what I said, and what I did; the public humiliation and cornering on the bus rides home.

Wrong face. Wrong size. Wrong skin color. Wrong personality.

No matter how hard I tried to understand it all, it felt like the world was telling me that I didn’t belong, and I never would.

I remember the hours spent locked in my room crying after school, while my mother paced around the house anxiously. Back then I didn’t know how to communicate to her how I was feeling, and she felt at a loss how to help. I felt paralyzed and confused.

In the schoolyard I was the good girl who never spoke badly of anyone, the quiet student who worked hard and who hated getting into trouble.

I remember the laughter, my cheeks burning as I walked fr…

What do you think?

comments