--- title: Things I'm ashamed of: crowds, cruelty and coming clean — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Things I'm ashamed of: crowds, cruelty and coming clean», a lesson of the reflection course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Shame is the hot, sinking feeling that comes when you know you did something wrong and you can't stop seeing it --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Reflection](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/) / Things I'm ashamed of: crowds, cruelty… # Things I'm ashamed of: crowds, cruelty and coming clean Lesson 16 of the reflection course of Mova's primary school: 20 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/0/) — Shame is the hot, sinking feeling that comes when you know you did something wrong and you can't stop seeing it: it plays at night like a clip on repeat, and it often grows the longer the thing stays hidden. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/2/) — He looked scared of US. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/3/) — What kind of person does that?" - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/4/) — In a crowd people do things they would never do alone, because everyone thinks someone else is in charge; the frightened face keeps coming back because deep down Finn knows it was cruel, and that is his conscience working, not proof he is rotten all the way through. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/5/) — Shame can turn into making things right: Finn told his mum, knocked on the man's door with her, said sorry and helped pay for the glass, and the man shook his hand; "everyone did it" never made the clip stop, but owning up slowly did. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/6/) — The same pattern runs through the other stories: a hidden wrong gets heavier day by day, and telling the truth, saying sorry and fixing what can be fixed is what lets it go quiet. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/7/) — Shame is feeling bad about who you are after doing wrong; guilt is feeling bad about what you did; guilt that leads to fixing things is useful. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/8/) — In a group people often act worse than each would alone; this is sometimes called mob mentality, and "everyone did it" does not make it fine. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/9/) — A lie that blames someone innocent can get them punished; being "framed" means being blamed for something you did not do, and "setting the record straight" means telling the truth afterwards. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/10/) — Guilt about a hidden wrong usually grows each day it is not fixed; owning up is scary for a moment and then usually brings relief. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/11/) — Children sometimes see scary or grown-up things online by accident; it is not their fault, and telling a calm adult helps them understand it and set up safety filters. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/12/) — A safe secret is like a surprise party; an unsafe secret is one where someone is being hurt, and unsafe secrets must be told to a trusted adult even if you promised not to. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/13/) — A trusted adult is a grown-up you can talk to who will help, such as a parent, teacher, school nurse or coach. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/14/) — Praise or an award you did not earn rarely feels good, because you know the truth; honesty makes the next award feel real. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/15/) — Blaming someone who cannot speak up, like a pet or a baby, is extra unfair; a "scapegoat" is someone blamed for other people's mistakes. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/16/) — "Coming clean" or "owning up" means admitting what you did; "making amends" means doing something to fix the harm. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/17/) — Shouting back when told off is often about embarrassment; a later sorry or a good deed can fix it. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/18/) — Gossip spreads very fast; whoever starts a secret moving shares the blame even if others spread it further. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/19/) — "Finders keepers" is not true for things like phones; keeping something you could return is a kind of stealing, and lost property offices exist to return things. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/16-things-im-ashamed-of-crowds-cruelty-and-coming-clean/20/) — Feeling ashamed for weeks shows you have a working conscience; the cure is usually honesty and making things right, not punishing yourself forever. - ← previous: [The lie nobody found out: carrying a secret](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/15-the-lie-nobody-found-out-carrying-a-secret/) - next →: [Old guilt: secrets that grow and how to let them go](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/17-old-guilt-secrets-that-grow-and-how-to-let-them-go/) - ↑ back to [Reflection](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/)