When I was 5, my aunt accused me of stealing an envelope full of money. I was so scared that I actually started believing I might have taken it and forgotten. Even my mom threatened to call the police.
Hours later, when we were already on the train home, my aunt called:
“Oh, I found it! It slipped behind the drawer.”
My mom went silent. She never apologized. Not that day, not ever. And I carried that moment like a shadow. For months, I avoided touching anything that wasn’t mine. If I found a coin at school, I’d run to the teacher in panic. I grew into the “perfect” kid — neat, careful, terrified of being seen as bad.
Years later, working at a bakery, money went missing. The owner questioned me with that same look. I hadn’t done anything, but guilt still burned through me. A week later, he found the cash at home and apologized. Still… it reopened every old wound.
I eventually studied psychology, specializing in how childhood moments shape us. I even wrote a children’s book about a kid falsely accused — a story of understanding and forgiveness.
Then one day, I got a handwritten letter from my aunt. She’d read my book. She knew exactly what it was about. Inside was a small note and 200 lei.
“I’m sorry,” she wrote. “Maybe this envelope can carry a better memory now.”
I cried — not for the money, but because the child I once was finally felt seen.
Be gentle with children. Words can follow them for a lifetime. And if you ever get it wrong, it’s never too late to say you’re sorry.
