Reddit, what became of your school's bully?

This guy was a spoiled rich kid in elementary school and tormented me to no end because I was little over-sensitive. My parents were cool, typical middle class. His were pretty wealthly, fancy sports cars in their three car garage house, etc. He was a little bit better than me in hockey, so he rubbed it in. Beat me up a few times after school until my dad had a talk with his dad and brought my uncle, who was a Cop. (My dad was super awesome and ex-military). But he still bullied me at school and of course the teachers did nothing.

Anyway, flash forward to high school where I was having a hard time. My dad suggested a private school. My grandma would pay for it because she gave my uncles money for new houses and other stuff. So, since I liked the military and sports, I picked a military boarding school. It was my choice and now when I look back it was a great decision because it helped me toughen up. This was grade 10 and I was 15.

Anyway, the first few months were rough, but I endured and earned awards and the teaching staff really like me. I thrived, got A's, and character strengths were built. So the following year I was promoted to be a house leader (over 40 boys). The leaders participate in training the noobs, or new guys. It was all boys and no electronics. So when the new class came in, guess who was in the ranks? The guy who bullied me! Man I rubbed my hands because he was assigned to my house, and he looked terrified. Turns out he messed up in school and was doing drugs, so his daddy sent him here. So I put him through the rounds but I didn't treat him any differently than the other noobs, though he shook when I came to inspect his uniform, fearing the worst! Ahhh rank has its privileges. I told my teachers the sad story of how he bullied me, and since they liked me, you should have seen the grins on their faces! Just the fact that the rumor spread about how he bullied me put the fear in him that I was going to get my revenge.

But after the first month of "boot" he realized he was getting the same shit as all the other noobs, no one was getting revenge. He started to participate and improve. In fact, when ever I saw him in the mess or during sports, I would bring up memories of the same teachers we had and friends and school activities. We both played hockey on the same team, worked out in the weight room, and after a couple of more months, we became friends. He helped my with my math homework and I gave him hints on military etiquette. I didn't know that his parents were going through a divorce before he came to the school and his life was shit. We became good friends, but not close friends, because no matter how much he changed the way he treated me in the early grades hurt. I boxed and wrestled with him at the military school and got better than he did. We keep in touch, he is married and so I am I. I spent a few years in the army and he is an accountant. Now I am I software engineer.

/r/AskReddit Thread