An Eye For An Eye

When mistakes take place, people put a bad stigma on it. Even if you do it on accident, people don’t always see it that way. It usually comes across as if you were “out to do it”. However, that’s why it’s called a “mistake”.

It wasn’t on purpose, it was just an honest, mistake. There was a time when I was younger, and I was playing with my brother, (who was around 4 or 5 at the time). Him and I were in our old house, and we had this specific room called “the play room”. It’s where we kept all our toys, our dressers, our crafts, ect. I have vague memories of this moment, but what I do remember I still feel bad about. We had this gray chair, that was ‘J’ shaped, and you could rock on it, like a rocking chair. My brother went over to play on it, (he used it like a surfing board, I did the same sometimes), but this one particular day, he went on it, and was being pretty reckless. I told him he needed to stop or get off. He refused, and continued being careless. I yelled at him and told him to stop before he hurt himself, because I was the one watching him, and I didn’t want to get yelled at if he got hurt. I think I remember trying to call for my mother, but she didn’t answer. I think I might have yelled again, but still no reply. So I told him that if he didn’t stop, I was going to get him down off of the chair myself. He gave me some attitude, and continued on.

I was really mad at this point, because I didn’t want to get in trouble if he got hurt, yet no one came to help me. I yelled at him once more to get down, and still he refused. So I tried to pick him up, (he wasn’t very heavy at the time), but he jumped off the chair. He didn’t want to corporate, and now he was on the ground, crying. I rushed over to him, but he was just laying there while I was trying to help him. Then, as soon as I started to ask if he was OK, and then proceeded to scold him for doing that, he started crying louder so my parents would come rushing to aid. He wanted to get me in trouble, (he liked doing that a lot), and sure enough, here come my parents.

They came to the door of the playroom, and saw my brother laying there, crying. So of course there first reaction was to help him, and then lash out at me. Mind you, I was also young. I was no more than 7 or 8, so trying to watch him while my parents are off doing their own thing, wasn’t always easy. I tried to take care of him the best I could, but sometimes, it was a bit much for a 7 year old, even an 8 year old to handle. They asked my brother what happened, and he told them I pushed him off of the chair. (Of course he didn’t flat out say that, it was in 4 or 5 year old talk), but that was the gist of what he was getting at. So my parents, of course told me how horrible I was a big sister for doing that, and told me that I was grounded, (I don’t remember for how long), but that made me really upset.

So the next day, my brother was up on the rocking chair again, using it like a surfing board, and he was again, being careless. So, I did what any 7 year old big sister would do, after just trying to help him, but instead he got me in trouble for something I didn’t do, I pushed him off of the chair. He of course started crying again, but before my parents came rushing to his aid, I quickly ran out of the room, and placed myself at the table where I was doing something before I went into the playroom. I sat myself back down where my parents last saw me, so when they came around the corner, it would look like I didn’t move. They ran into the playroom, and my brother was crying still. They asked him what happened, and he told them that I pushed him. Which this time, was true, but they pretty much just told him ‘your sister is out there, and we just saw her, so how could she have pushed you?’, kind of thing. My brother insisted that I pushed him, but my parents knowing I was grounded and them also knowing that I hated punishments, I don’t think that they believed him, because why would I want to add on more punishment to myself since I “committed” the same act the day prior? So I ended up getting away with it, and I think it’s fair.

I didn’t push him the first time, but I got in trouble for trying to help him because my parents always only believed him. Yet the second time, they just thought he was probably mad at me, and that’s why he was saying I pushed him a second time, even though they could “clearly see I didn’t”. I technically did get punished for pushing him, and got away with it when I actually did, so it all evened out in the end. He definitely got me in a lot of trouble for many more years, and still does to this day, just not as much. With that being said, I’ve now had my, (not really “fair share”), of get backs, but I’ve got him back a few times.

“‘What did you make today?’ ‘Mistakes'” by tophrrrr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0