People want to get the feeling that justice has been served, even when they know that an innocent person is taking the blame. The first time I became aware of this fact was in seventh grade. One day, when my math teacher wasn't at school, I realized that you could get in trouble for doing nothing.
"Quiet down everyone", the substitute begged. Kids were hanging out the window and throwing balls of paper onto the blacktop outside. I decided to go to the window to see what was going on outside. As soon as I stuck my head out the window I saw Mr. Penny, the history teacher in our school, looking up at our classroom. All the kids ran to their seats, since they knew Mr. Penny would be coming up to the room in a matter of minutes. He got up to our classroom in less than two minutes and entered the room looking furious.
"You", he said pointing at me, "come up here.".
"Me?" I asked him. "But what did I do?".
"I saw you throwing paper out the window. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated in this school. What do you think this is, a zoo? Kids today have to learn how to behave.".
"But I didn't throw any paper. I was just looking outside. I didn't do anything wrong; I"m innocent.".
"Don't talk back to me. I saw you throwing paper outside the window. Are you calling me liar? Now go down to the principal's office before I write you up for disobeying a teacher as well.".
I had no choice, so I walked down to the principal's office without any more arguments. I had been blamed for something I had nothing to do with. I was innocent yet had been falsely accused. I was not a bad person and had done nothing wrong, yet here I was, having a "bad thing happen" to me. Mr. Penny was in control of the situation, and he wanted to point the blame on someone. He saw kids throwing paper out the window, but he couldn't remember who it was; yet he remembered that I was the last one he saw in the window. It was just like "Eruption of Vesuvius", there was no body else to blame so he blamed me.
