"Innocent UNTIL PROVEN Guilty - The Red Pills"

Oh

 Yes, it's just going to be one of those kinds of blogging days. I was ready to step into another eight hours of edits and battles with the newest of books, that was due out tomorrow - on the full moon. Yes, the moon plays a vital role in my newest of fictional writings. So why didn't I just forgo my internet and get right into it?  I have all my ducks in a row and it would be great to get all thirty plus chapters done and back in to my publishers.  That would have totally shocked my agents and then some. Yet again my mind has been kidnapped by the thought bandit and I feel inclined to share a little story with you about accusations and how people can be so quick to have the answers on why they can place blame on others before having all the facts. So let’s begin.

It all started last night, just before bed, about 9:05pm to be exact. Our older son was coming down from his excitement of knowing he will be a driver in this year’s Demolition Derby at the Anne Arundel County Fair Grounds on June 2, 2012. (Ok, couldn't resist a little shout out to the volunteers and their ability to make these events possible). He was packing a small bag to stay with a buddy that is also driving in the derby. There is no doubt that the weekend will prove to be labor intensive to prepare, not one, but two cars, for this upcoming event and the tension to get everything done in a short period of time, continues to build. Now the drama began when our oldest son was on a quest to locate a pair of missing sunglasses and asked our younger son if he could borrow a pair of his. Seems ok, right? WRONG! In the past, our older son had a knack for borrowing people’s things and either one – would never return the borrowed item or two - break the item. Our youngest son has fallen victim to this process for many years and in his mind, enough was enough.

This immediately set the ball rolling in our older sons mind. His thinking these days has become very predictable and as a mother we pick up on these things, and because we were once teenagers too. If I had to quote what his mind was conjuring up I would say it was as follows, "If I can't get little brother to loan me his glasses, then I find a way to get mom and dad to tell him to let me use them instead." Our oldest son would keep appealing the no answer he had received from his brother with repeated visits to our bedroom with various looks that tumbled between confusion and frustration, hoping for either my husband or myself to lay the law down and the sunglasses would be his to use as he wished. Nope, didn’t happen and that made him furious. The front door would shut loudly, the truck doors would slam in some way trying to get our attention, positive or negative. We chose not to react.  Life lessons can be a royal bitch, but we all have to learn them sooner or later, and believe you me, he was not happy in away way. Why? He knew we were not going to give in.

What happened next was nothing that were had ever expected, but I believe we took the right approach to teach a vital lesson in the seriousness of accusations. While our older son did his best to located his missing sunglass, he stumbled on a miniature clear zip-lock plastic baggie containing four red capsule pills. Ok Officer and Detective tough guy – Stand down and let me finished before you come code to my house to make an arrest. Trust me; you’re not going to believe the outcome. Our son, after finding these pills, quickly rushed into our bedroom to alert us that our younger son was doing drugs and that these pills were something that had been talked about in school – which school, because he attends two, I have not a clue.  Now we had attended a Junior Fair board meeting and we had taken a guest with us. Now I had said to my son, “How do you know they belong to your brother?” He quickly snapped back, “My friend would not do drugs! Are you blaming her!?” I was not blaming anyone, I wanted him to understand, that without all the facts, what gave him the right come up with the assumption that his brother was guilty. He didn’t know what these pills were and he didn’t know who they belonged to either.

Now in my mind, for all I knew, he could be lying to me and they were his, but I remained calm and looked at my husband and said, “There is only one way to find out,” and I got up and woke up his brother, who had slept through all the drama of the missing sunglasses and the discovery of the red pills. When our younger son awoke, he was rather baffled by my direct Detective mom level of questioning of the plastic baggie and its contents. His first response was a huge grin followed by laughter.

“What’s so funny!?” I asked in a stern voice.

“Mom, those are blood capsules,” and he laughed again as he tried to hold back a yawn.

“Blood capsules? What do you mean blood capsules?” My bottled blonde was really showing through.

“For Halloween to make it look like if someone hit you in the mouth, you’d bleed. I got them at the Flea Market a couple weeks ago. I was going to play a trick on dad when we were wrestling. That if he bumped my face, I’d make it look like I was bleeding to get him back for the cut finger joke he played on us.”

Yes, I felt stupid, but at the same time I knew I had gotten to the bottom of the drama. I even went one step further to test one in the sink. It’s red gel and it stains. UGH! Needless to say, our youngest son laughed himself to sleep and our oldest took a shower and went to bed without another word. My husband just smiled as I climbed back into bed.

“Well, so much for getting to bed early. Thank god tomorrow is Friday.” I said as he pulled me close beside him. “Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams to you. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

And with that, we were sound to sleep sometime after 11:00pm.

The moral of this story, is never accuse someone of anything without having all the facts. I know myself I have been guilty of this type of behavior. Let’s face it; we all have been at some point in our lives. Nobody’s perfect. My problem was never because I found something, it was always a reaction I had because someone was being spiteful, just because they could be, and I didn’t have all the facts. Even if someone puts something in writing that is hurtful, does that make it true? 98% of the time – No it doesn’t. If I write about murder, does that mean I have committed a crime? No! Just because you have something in front of you, it still doesn’t mean it is so. In this world, I see so many who are so quick to take things at face value when it comes to negative information about another. I often feel that this Ludacris behavior of wanting to hear bad things about others is some deep seeded need to feel validated as a better person. We are all good inside and we know right from wrong. Life is all about choices. But let me ask you, what If you knew that someone is doing something wrong and all the proof is there and they have openly admitted fault, would you try to offer guidance that will place them on a path of support and positive thinking, or would you turn and speak harshly behind their back? Why must we find happiness in others pain? Could you imagine if everyone could learn to worry about the most important person in this entire planet? Do you know who the most important person is? They are closer than you think.

So here is my exercise that I ask of you. Go to the nearest mirror you can find and stand in front of it. I’ll give you a hint - That important person is looking back at you. Again, a song comes to mind. I have the link below. You may not like the man, or his type of music, but I ask you to take the time to listen to the words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUrqFkR7QlI

Thank you so much for joining me today. You’re comments, advice and words of support mean so much to me, so keep them coming. It’s what helps me grow as a writer. I wish you all a Fantastic Friday and make your weekend positively memorable. I know I’m going to.