Overlooking Intent
I remembered the plastic bag incident today. I don't know what made me think of it--is there something about sleep deprivation that brings to mind events from three decades in the past? Perhaps it was the sight of random objects trailing up our staircase that brought me back. I must have been about seven years old at the time. My grandmother had tripped on the stairs while watching my siblings and me. I don't remember the fall itself; what I do remember was that she had slipped on a plastic bag that had been left halfway up. My parents told me that I had done it intentionally; that I was a terrible, thoughtless person; that I must have been trying to hurt my caretaker. No one cared that I couldn't even remember handling a plastic bag that day, let alone leaving it in the middle of the staircase. Was I forgetful enough to have done it? Probably, but that made me careless, not evil. Yet nobody cared. Thinking about it now, this may be why I bristle when I come across managem...
