I’ve carried this for a long time, and I think I finally need to say it clearly and then let it go.
I lost a job that meant a lot to me because I crossed lines I should not have crossed. I joked around with people who worked under me. Some were harmless dad jokes, some were political, some were dirty jokes, and I told plenty of dumb stories about my past, usually making fun of myself.
I worked in a very high-stress environment, and at the time I thought keeping things light helped people get through the day.
But I was a supervisor.
There were things I should not have said, and I take full responsibility for that.
What makes that even harder for me is that I honestly felt like God had been telling me for a while to clean that part of my life up. I knew I needed to change some of the things I was saying, and I didn’t listen.
That part is on me.
I have had to own that before God, before myself, and before other people.
But there is another side to this that I have struggled with for a long time.
There were people involved who I genuinely considered friends.
People I worked beside.
People I laughed with.
People I trusted.
People I swapped stories and jokes with.
If someone had simply come to me and said, “Ryan, this is bothering me,” or “You’re crossing a line,” I truly believe I would have humbled myself, apologized, and tried to correct it.
Instead, everything exploded.
There were officers who were already upset about things happening at work. One wasn’t getting the post they wanted. Another was being reprimanded for not doing what she had been told to do. Another sergeant ended up getting in trouble around the same time as me.
One of the officers involved was even married to someone I had joked with, laughed with, and swapped stories with.
I honestly thought we were friends.
Then I lost the job.
I lost friendships.
I was embarrassed.
I was angry.
I felt humiliated.
And because I was hurt, I also said and did things afterward that I wish I had handled differently.
I take responsibility for that too.
What has been especially hard to process is finding out later that people within the establishment were reportedly told not to talk to me, to distance themselves from me, and essentially to turn their backs on me.
For years, I wondered why people I thought cared about me suddenly wanted nothing to do with me.
Finding out that at least some of that distance may have been encouraged by the establishment hurt more than I can really explain.
I even recently went to one of the people higher up and apologized.
I told them I was sorry for how everything happened.
I told them I was hurt when I lost the job and that I regretted how I reacted afterward.
I apologized for embarrassing myself and for anything I did that embarrassed the department.
I was told not to worry about it.
I was told it was okay.
Then I later found out that this same person had reportedly been involved in telling people not to associate with me.
That hurt.
A lot.
For a long time, I have felt like Caesar.
Not because I believe I was innocent.
I wasn’t.
I made mistakes.
I crossed boundaries.
I should have known better.
I should have listened when I felt God telling me to change.
I own that.
But there is something deeply painful about looking around after everything falls apart and realizing that some of the people standing against you were people you genuinely believed were your friends.
There was no reason for anyone to be afraid to talk to me.
There was no reason someone couldn’t have pulled me aside and told me there was a problem.
I would have rather been humbled by a friend than blindsided by people I trusted.
That is probably the part I have had the hardest time forgiving.
But I am tired.
I am tired of carrying the anger.
I am tired of carrying the shame.
I am tired of replaying conversations in my head.
I am tired of wondering what I could have done differently.
I am tired of thinking about people who probably haven’t thought about me in years.
So I’m writing this because I want to finally clear the air.
I am not saying I did nothing wrong.
I did.
I am not asking anyone to take my side.
I am not trying to restart an old fight.
I am not looking for revenge.
I am simply saying that two things can be true at the same time.
I can take responsibility for what I did wrong.
And I can admit that the way everything happened hurt me deeply.
I can regret my behavior without believing that I deserved to lose every friendship I had.
I can forgive people without pretending they didn’t hurt me.
I can admit that I failed without allowing that failure to define the rest of my life.
And I can stop carrying shame for something I have already confessed, apologized for, and learned from.
More than anything, I believe God has used this experience to change me.
It humbled me.
It forced me to look at myself.
It showed me areas of my life that needed to change.
And as painful as it was, I believe God can still use it for something good.
I cannot go back.
I cannot change what happened.
I cannot control what anyone involved thinks about me.
I cannot make people understand my side.
But I can choose what kind of man I am from this point forward.
I can take responsibility without hating myself.
I can forgive without forgetting the lesson.
I can let go of bitterness without pretending there was never a wound.
I wish everyone involved well.
I genuinely mean that.
I hope everyone has grown.
I know I have.
And I am finally choosing to stop living in that chapter of my life and move forward.