Quick story: there was a guy -- an NGO founder -- who angrily DM'd me earlier today, threatening to find and physically confront me. I tweeted a screenshot, not knowing if this could be a legitimately crazy person. He then deleted his account; I figured that'd be the end of it
Later this afternoon, an email from the guy appeared in my inbox. It was a sincere, remorseful, heartfelt apology. He asked to speak on the phone -- we just hung up moments ago. On the call he reiterated his same heartfelt apology, which of course I accepted
I wasn't even really looking for an apology. I get insulted and attacked all the time online, as you might imagine. This was unusual though due to the specific nature of the apparent threat, and the fact that the guy ran an NGO. I had no idea what he was potentially capable of
He said he had spent all day reflecting and felt horrible. I tried to reassure him that it wasn't *that* big of a deal, and I considered the matter settled, and he didn't need to worry about it any more. Everyone deserves some forbearance now and then, I told him
He kept saying he had no right to expect I would accept his apology. But of course I accepted it. Why wouldn't I? Guy went out of his way to do an act of sincere penitence, which is vanishingly rare on the internet. And it wasn't like he had caused me some radically profound harm
Despite my unequivocal acceptance of the apology, he said he's still going to take additional time to reflect. I ended up commending him for his rectitude, even if I thought it might've been a tad excessive under the circumstances. But this is what he felt he was obliged to do
I told him that I would try to learn from his example and display the same humility if I ever find myself in a similar situation -- which, let's face it, is fairly likely. And I did genuinely admire his staunch moral conviction in what he believes are the obligations of penitence
So I've gone and deleted the tweets with the screenshots from earlier. We even made plans to meet in person at some point in the future. I'm not going to name the guy, or his affiliation; I know he'll be reading this thread. Anyway, there's a positive story for you, for a change
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