They say that all criminals have one thing in common: They all claim they are innocent.
As I am getting older, I am beginning to think that in many cases, they might as well have valid reasons to feel this way.
For the first time in our history here in Cyprus, traffic accidents caused by people aged 60+ were more than those caused by people aged 24-. I have been crying for years now that people over 60 are much more dangerous behind the wheel than the inexperienced drivers in their 20s. Now, unfortunately, I can back my claim up with data. And the data do not even capture instances where an accident is caused in the vicinity of an old driver, when for example, someone may try to overtake a ridiculously slow-moving vehicle, or when other drivers need to avoid older individuals who cannot even keep the wheel straight (yes, I have seen this happen, more than once). So when an accident happens with an old driver in the vicinity, do you find it strange that the driver who was physically involved, feels innocent because of the circumstances?
I recently had a discussion with a friend, about a major mess-up in his work: His actions caused a loss of about EUR4k to the company (a trivial amount for most firms, including the one in question, but still), for which he was held accountable by his boss. I have known this man for a long time and he has always been very diligent in his work. But although the business has grown significantly ever since he joined it (and so have his responsibilities) he still works alone and has no one else to rely on, despite requesting for an additional hiring to be made. So when this mistake happened, do you find it strange that he feels innocent because of the circumstances, although no one else was directly involved?
Any action (or lack thereof) creates ripples, the effects of which aren’t always obvious. Being able to see these ripples when judging others, is a major attribute of our being human.