Bullying can deeply impact our mental health in many ways. Henry Wismayer (@henrywismayer) shared a childhood memory on social media about how his mother’s powerful letter saved him from school bullying by his headmaster.
For Mother’s Day, Wismayer shared how his mother wrote a “ferocious” letter to the headmaster, confronting him for his actions. His post began with, “Once again marking Mother’s Day by sharing my mum’s ferocious letter to my headmaster.” She started the letter formally with “Dear Sir,” but the body showed her anger: “Although common sense dictates that I delay writing this letter until I have cooled down, I am aware that the end of term is near and the opportunity to respond to your ill-considered and offensive remarks might soon be lost.”
Wismayer’s mother addressed the matter without wasting time, “I came to your office yesterday prepared to agree with your assessment of my son’s character and prospects, and willing to support you in any decision you made regarding his future.” The day before she wrote the letter, she met the headmaster to discuss “Henry’s failure to meet a commitment to attend an athletics competition.” However, the headmaster only briefly commented on the subject and spent the next 45 minutes assassinating her son’s character.
Wismayer’s mother expressed her annoyance over the headmaster calling her son “worthless” “arrogant” “lazy” “selfish” and “stupid.” She was also mad over the “silly threat” that the headmaster kept on making. His words, “No university or employer will consider him when I am finished with him.” She called his comments distasteful and wrote, “It was a strategy unbecoming of a man in your position.”
In the letter, the mother also took down the headmaster by writing, “You were clearly out of control and had no intentions whatsoever of dealing with the matter in a rational and constructive manner.” Wismayer’s mother didn’t hold herself back and called the headmaster the “worst sort of bully.” She expressed her disappointment and admitted her mistake to put her trust in him to do his job properly. The mother, with a polite and formal tone, told the headmaster to leave the disciplining of her son to a different teacher as his character is filled with “prejudice and spite” and lacks the basic quality of “mercy.”
In a follow-up tweet, Wismayer informed his followers that his former tutor told him that the headmaster was furious upon receiving the letter. Intrigued, he found the letter on his mother’s computer and printed a dozen copies. He then circulated the printed letters around the school. Needless to say, his mother became a school legend, and the headmaster stopped bullying him.
Since uploading the post and sharing his mother’s story, Wismayer has been flooded with messages of support and admiration in the post’s comment section. People have lauded his mom’s bravery and the power of maternal love. “Brava, Mum!” commented @hilarybmiller. Another user, @misspallen, said, “This is such a powerful letter – vocab, tone, and effect all spot-on. Big respect to your mum.”
You Mum is a HERO!!!!!— Thisismaryannl (@thisismaryannl) March 11, 2024
Dear God. This is ART. What a letter; what a woman. And what a foul man. All joking aside, I hope none of his words still ring in your ears.— Sophie Heawood (@heawood) March 10, 2024
