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A West Hollywood visual designer recently received a surprise on Facebook: one of his classmates who tormented and bullied him in junior high nearly 20 years ago sent him a heartfelt apology.ChadMichael Morrisette, 34, told Yahoo Parenting that when he used to live in Alaska as a kid, the school's "entire football team bullied me." He wrote in a post on Facebook: "During junior high and high school I was bullied for being who I am. I was bullied for being gay. I was bullied for being little. I was bullied for every reason someone is bullied. It was awful. I couldn’t even walk to classes without an adult escort or friends with me."
Things fortunately changed for Morrisette when he moved from Alaska to San Diego with his siblings when he was just 15, according to RackedLA. He graduated high school and headed to Los Angeles to start his career as a visual designer, dressing windows at high-end boutique clothing stores. He's also a brand consultant in West Hollywood now.
Morrisette had moved on from those painful days of getting bullied, but one of his former bullies, Louie Amundson, remembered. He sent Morrisette a Facebook message on May 5. It read:
Hey Chad, I 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 shitty 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.
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 told Mashable that he didn't know just how much the bullying had hurt him until he read Admunson's message, which touched him and helped him deal with the pain he had buried deep inside. He hopes telling people about this will help kids who are getting bullied know that things will get better.
"Being bullied as a kid instilled a strength in me that I carry with me (as) an adult," Morrisette told Mashable. "I can view it as me being a victim, or turn that around into ... experiences (which) made my self worth stronger. I learned how to push through experiences that, at the time, may have seemed unbearable or unsurmountable. [sic]"
