“Dear person I hurt, you may not remember me, but given the pain I may have caused, perhaps you…”

Dear person I hurt, you may not remember me, but given the pain I may have caused, perhaps you will. I was a classmate of yours many years ago in middle school, and I remember you were a fairly unpopular person. I wasn’t popular myself, but relative to you, perhaps you may have thought I was. I say this because I remember people, including myself, bullying you. In today’s culture, kids are so much more aware of bullying and a lot braver than generations past, and this ongoing open discussion has forced me to confront my behavior towards you. People with low self-esteem need someone else to put down to make themselves feel better, and unfortunately you were a frequent target. I didn’t have anything against you, but I do remember being so concerned with popularity and being liked that I fed into an environment that made hurting you OK. I cannot fathom the impact it had on you, and as a stupid teenager I didn’t think about how difficult it is to just brush things off, especially things that happened every day. I hope you’re doing well now and while it sounds weird, I hope you overcame what we did and realize that you’re a better person than we were. I never told anyone this, but on a dare, I stole the picture you kept on your desk. I felt bad, but not bad enough to fix my wrongdoing. Now, I feel completely terrible, and it is too late to fix it. I occasionally think about it and feel like a worthless and weak person. I’m sorry. A Regretful Friend