Ben Austen

From nursery school through fifth grade, I recall feeling verbally and at times physically threatened by you.

I'm not going to go into specific incidents, and I don't think it matters.

What matters is how I felt.

I'm sad to say it, but when I teach my own children and students in my synagogue about bullying, the image in the deepest recesses of my mind is the memory of feeling threatened by you.

All right.

All right.

I need to release myself from the burden that has plagued me for so long.

I am sorry for throwing all this at you over an innocent friend request.

I apologize for holding back all these years and not trying harder to bring about healing in our relationship sooner.

If you are willing to acknowledge the hurt and the insecurity that I felt in your presence when we were boys more than 30 years ago, then I not only will forgive you,

I will be happy to be your friend in all senses of the term.

Best regards, Eddie.

Boy, uh, like, honestly, I was like, fuck Facebook.

Uh, but I also thought... Wait, you're blaming Facebook for this?

Yeah, I was like, why did I, why was I on that site?

Why did I, why did I participate?

It was like, I knew it.

I knew it.

Um...

I mean, to be honest, the biggest thing I felt was I couldn't think of something that I did to him.