Flawed Anti-Bullying Argument

Good God, I've had this saved for ages and I just NOW remember to post a journal about it.  I found this journal meme ages ago on some random deviant's journal:

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A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take out a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up, not to rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it was. She then told them to tell it they're sorry. Now, even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child, they may say they're sorry, but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home. Copy and paste this if you are against bullying.

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First off, while I agree that bullying is wrong, I think the teacher's methods are far from correct in any circumstance.  The reason?  Well, my opinion mostly stems from these lines:

"Now, even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it."

That, my friends, is not the fault of the bully.  Now before you shit bricks at the utter audacity of my seemingly inane statement, allow me to elaborate.  Let's assume that the situation is real and that a child really did get bullied.  Let's also assume that the bully apologizing is sincere in his apology.  If the "victim" does not want to forgive the bully, who sincerely repentant, that becomes the fault of the "victim" himself because he's choosing to hold the grudge against the now repentant bully.

Think my statements are "heartless" and without any grounds?  Well, allow me to present to you a real life scenario from back in my Middle School - High School days.

Back in Middle School, I was bullied like mad by this one rather strong kid in my grade, even physically beaten by him for what seemed like no reason at all, and was overjoyed when my parents finally took me out of that school.  I was home schooled for my 7th and 8th grade education, but I told my parents I wanted to finish my 12 years of schooling in a real High School, which I did.  However, when I was enrolled, I remembered the bully from Middle School and realized that, assuming he wasn't being held back, he'd be right there for all 4 years.

Well, being older and mentally/emotionally stronger than I was 2 years prior, I knew what I had to do.  If I were ever bullied by him again, I would not hesitate to defend myself, even if it meant coming to blows if I had to.  When I arrived at the high school, he actually, and unexpectedly, approached me and said, "Hey, aren't you Richard?  From a few years back?"  I hesitantly answered in the affirmative and, surprisingly, we actually became friends,  though middle school was never mentioned after that, and the rest, as they say, is history.

See that folks?  I became friends with a supposed bully EVEN THOUGH he never actually apologized.  My guess is he didn't want to bring up the past and potentially ruin everything.

Now, I understand that the grade these kids were in was probably a little lower than middle school level, but the fact still remains that if bullying causes all of this damage and *gasp* incurable mental scaring, then how was it that I was able to put the past behind me and befriend a repentant bully?

Either kids back in the days of Andy Griffith and Leave It To Beaver had unbreakable willpower, or the current generation has spines made of cheap gelatin.  You decide.


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