At different stages in life I guess the questions could be different, but this is one classic answer that has always got many of us at our defensive best, no matter how much we doubted whether the reply could get us out of trouble!
The other day at my friend's place I saw a bowl full of sticky candies lying on the floor and the laptop screen severely scratched! Even before my friend could reconcile with what was going on, his little 3 year old declared "Wasnt Me!".....That made her look even more cute than she already was and we burst out laughing looking at the way that little one had tried to put herself on the defensive.
A popular movie star was questioned if she was dating a producer for work. To support the basis of their question, the interviewer presented a few photographs that their staff happened to take of the actress with the producer in a convincingly compromising position. The reply was lightning fast "Wasnt me!".....And yes, she additionally quoted "If you observe carefully, the lady in the snap has got a mole on the left cheek and no dressing sense".
When I scored less in my exams and had my parents thinking of what they were going to do of me, I too used the magical mantra "Wasnt me...Mom"...."My professor is nuts! He is really not good at teaching and is in fact not knowledgable in the subject. He is the reason behind this performance of mine...I tried my best." Though my mom wasnt convinced with the reply, she tried to pretend she was convinced to cool my already "burning with fury" dad. Trust me, I also added a few more words in my defence..."Arun is a real loser. He kept all the important questions and notes to himself. He kept pretending the subjects were simple and that we could finish studying in less than a week's time...Little did I know that he was infact studying everyday after we left and what he meant a week was infact the time to revise "....
When the recent Mumbai attacks broke open the doors to a whole lot of questioning, the Prime Minister had to say "Wasnt any of us!"....."Was them!"....Though I fully appreciate and empathize with him for the situation he is in and agree that it is difficult to accept our faults and people who are faulty within us, I think the "Wasnt Me" factor when used in such a big proportion indicates the extent to which it can land us in trouble.
If only we had realized earlier that we are a part of the trouble ourselves in varying degrees and had agreed and acknowledged it and worked towards correcting ourselves as a nation instead of simply convincing ourselves saying none of the issues were due to us, we probably would have had lesser troubles today. All of us contributes to whatever good, and whatever bad we see around us and we can choose to change it if we wished and worked for it.
We need to own up our mistakes. We are the ones who can choose how we act or conduct ourselves. Never trust the "Wasnt me" to lead you to good when you screw things up. Though it may temporarily help, it isnt the solution. Own up the mistake, see what went wrong, and try not to repeat it again and bid a big farewell to the "Wasnt Me" mantra.
