[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

Storytime... I had a bully in my childhood who used to make it a point to try to isolate and humiliate me. (This is not a sad tale at all, so save your tissues). Anyway, I think a year or so later, that person asked to sign my yearbook when she saw that I had one. This is the kind of person that would totally have taken advantage of that to try to score points with the friend group and also to "expose" my naivety. I knew that was a possibility but I didn't give a fart, so I let her have my yearbook to sign. The worst she could do is put something memorable (What yearbooks are for) and if it's horrendously awful, I'll laugh about it when I'm old and give zero Fs. To put it into perspective, we consume this negativity on the daily now through our social media... so anyway...

She gave me the book back. I don't remember if I looked right away. Anyway, she wrote out a well thought apology and went out of her way to come up to me and sort of nodded and asked if I'd read it. She didn't want to make it super obvious and I appreciate that it was probably difficult and maybe even awkward for her, but definitely keen to make me aware of how she felt.

For some reason, Olivia reminds me of that. She was charismatic (in her own bratty way), just wanted to fit in and I definitely empathized with her desire and need to feel accepted. So I never actually held any real animosity towards her.

She still had the same tangents even after the signing of the book, so far from "reformed", but she's a reminder to me that we're all a WIP. But lots of people liked her and I'm sure they had their reasons.

So that sums up my impression of Olivia in some way... maybe that says more about me than her.

…I think what it says about you is that you allowed yourself to be vulnerable to anything mocking or hurtful etc because you felt there could be sincerity also…and you gave that sincerity a chance over any past… that’s what you allowed to shine and what you allowed to happen…you showed faith but you also showed it when it could have meant more pain for you…?…and she didn’t let you down, which would have had the impact of restoring some faith of ‘good in people’ for you, which is no small thing when someone has experienced bullying…and it allowed her to be able to express her regret for anything in the past…to say sorry…and yeah, I completely understand your association with that experience and attaching it to Olivia….


…I honestly think that the forum…(…and the world…)…would benefit from a Story-time with Maru as a regular thing……