See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Louis Pasteur Story.
Life Lesson #72 – Place Blame Carefully.
It was a Tuesday morning, and Mrs. Rhinehart’s class was going on a field trip to an outdoor art festival that was in town for a few days. Artwork from people all over the city was on display for everyone to see. One of the boys thought that no one was looking except his friends when he decided it would be funny to sign his name on one of the paintings. But Erica was seeing and hearing and fortunately was able to tell Mrs. Rhinehart before the boy could actually do it, although her timing was close. Another ten seconds and the painting would have been ruined.
One of the boys called Erica a tattle-tale, and while it’s true that Mrs. Rhinehart discourages tattling in her class, she now had a good example to HELP them understand the difference between tattling and reporting. Tattling is when you tell on someone about something that is not really your business just to see them get in trouble. Reporting is when you tell on someone for actions that truly need to be stopped by someone in authority. And this act of vandalism definitely needed to be stopped! Vandalism is destroying or changing, without the owner’s permission, anything that doesn’t belong to you. Vandalism is a crime, and reporting vandalism is not only everyone’s business, but everyone’s responsibility, too. Erica knew that, and while the other boy was up to no good, Erica was a HERO that day, because she saved the certain destruction of a beautiful painting.
– Jim Lord