A simple gesture can change the life of a student. In a school in São Paulo, Professor Israel Magnani showed how to deal with bullying in a different way: transforming humiliations into sincere apologies and insults into hugs. His method, taken in a video that has become viral, has excited millions of users on social networks. The images show young people who, after recognizing that they have injured a partner, approach him to ask for forgiveness and tighten him in a hug.
During a lesson, Magnani asked the students who had made fun of a partner. A boy, already in tears, raised his hand. Instead of reproaching him, the professor encouraged him, inviting him to approach the same age to apologize. The two embraced each other crying, and soon other boys, affected by the scene, followed the example. This simple but powerful approach has shown how shame can turn into awareness and how the courage to admit one’s mistakes can open the way for reconciliation.
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The strength of a personal experience
The secret of Israel Magnani’s success is also in its history. As a child, he lived both faces of bullying: he was both victim and aggressor. After passing difficult years marked by depression and abandonment of his father, he chose to dedicate his life to help the boys not to repeat his own mistakes.
Thanks to his training in psychoanalysis, today the schools of Brazil with a clear message runs: “Cared for to cure“. Its mission is to demonstrate that those who have known the pain can become the voice of healing and an example of change.
A message that goes beyond the classrooms
With more than 500 schools visited, the professor has transformed hundreds of bullying episodes into occasions of growth and dialogue. His work is not limited to punishing negative behaviors, but aims to create a new culture based on mutual respect, on understanding and on the value of forgiveness. The video that moved the world is only a fragment of a daily commitment, which shows that even in the darkest moments hope, change and reconciliation can be born.
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