Who stole the peas? Several years ago, our then 11ish year-old granddaughter collaborated with her then 7ish year-old cousin in the mystery of the missing can of peas. They (with the 7-year-olds’ then 4ish year-old sister) took each of the (willing or not) adults one at a time into our den, which had been turned into an interrogation room and did a full-on interrogation. The 11ish year old must have been watching a lot of court room dramas because she was really good at it. In fact, so was the 7ish year old who I’m sure picked up on the tactics quickly. (I wish I’d been able to tape every session besides my own!)
“When was the last time you saw the can of peas?” “Did you see anyone near the can of peas?” “Do you like peas?” When it was my turn, I was ruled out as I detest them – and although I got a “can we trust her” scowl at my admission, I was deemed truthful – I am grandma after all – so my interrogation went much better than some. Especially the person’s interrogation (the 7- and 4-year olds’ dad) who they ended up deciding was the guilty party. The rest of us were not in the least surprised at the verdict (he gets some fun-loving flack as he also dishes it out, lol – including joining in on the fun as the picture of their notes confirms); although he very likely could have been surprised (or not) as I’m not so sure there was an actual can of peas in the house to begin with.
The whole process was hilarious, especially since the girls did an amazing job coming up with pertinent questions, keeping in character, and interrogating us thoroughly. Yet, as I’m smiling and typing up my recollections of the day, the part of my brain that works overtime for these blogs is yelling at me about guilty parties. Are they really guilty? Why did the girls choose the dad to be the culprit? How often do we choose a culprit in our daily ventures? Someone must be at fault for what is going on, right?
So, let’s be careful how we point our fingers at people. They might just be innocent of the crime/deed we are accusing them of. And if they are guilty, do we need to point it out (unless they are truly injuring someone)? Should we let their conscience be their guide? Don’t we have enough guilt on our own plate? Let it go, and let’s work on ourselves. We are the only people we can change. It would be better if we left our interrogations to ourselves.
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