Can you ever forgive a bully?

Answer 1

This is a personal question for which there are many answers. Many people can forgive bullies once they see them as hurting and miserable people doing the only thing they know to do. Part of the ability to forgive the bully depends on the ability to eliminate or come to terms with the consequences. It is hard to forgive someone who has caused you to lose some of your mental faculties, caused deep emotional scars, or caused you to become blind, deaf, or maimed. But even then, forgiveness is a choice, and it is possible if you have the gift of mercy.

Emotional scars can often be healed, and healing those can make forgiveness easier. But often there are complications and blockages. Common blocks include feeling guilty for doing nothing and feeling powerless, feeling guilty for sharing a similar nature with a bully - though inverted, or not coming to terms with things you did do which may have encouraged the bully or made you a mark in the first place. So often, if you cannot forgive, it is due to some sort of guilt, lack of a sense of responsibility, or lack of mercy towards yourself. If you can figure out what the memories trigger that existed before the bullying, you might be able to separate that from what the bully did and be better able to forgive them.

So many can and do forgive bullies, while many others don't.