--- title: Owning up: the broken vase and the lost library book — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Owning up: the broken vase and the lost library book», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Owning up means saying "It was me" about something you did wrong, before someone else gets the blame or the p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/) [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/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Owning up: the broken vase and the los… # Owning up: the broken vase and the lost library book Lesson 89 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 19 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/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/0/) — Owning up means saying "It was me" about something you did wrong, before someone else gets the blame or the problem grows. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/1/) — Ollie kicks a ball indoors and smashes Mum's vase; no one saw, and the cat is sitting right next to it, but blaming the cat is the oldest trick in the book: Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent (Genesis 3:12-13). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/2/) — Owning up is scary for a minute and freeing afterwards; psychologists find children who own up are usually punished less and trusted more. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/3/) — Full owning up has no "but", and it opens the door to making amends: saying sorry, helping fix it, or paying for the damage. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/4/) — Christians believe God meets confession with mercy (1 John 1:9), and even King David, when the prophet Nathan said "You are the man!", answered at once, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:1-13). - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/5/) — Nathan told King David a story about a rich man who took a poor man's only lamb; David was angry at the rich man, and Nathan said, "You are the man!", because David had done a worse wrong; a king could have punished him for saying it. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/6/) — "Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/7/) — Never let an innocent take the blame, not even the cat. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/8/) — The law of Moses made people pay for damage they caused (Exodus 21:33-34), and Zacchaeus paid back what he owed (Luke 19:8). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/9/) — Many countries' laws say a driver who hits a parked car must leave their name; honest cyclists do the same. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/10/) — Pretending you returned a library book blames the librarian, which is false witness (Exodus 20:16); a library is shared, so when one person lies about a book, everyone pays; the law said whoever lies about something left in their care must restore it and add a fifth (Leviticus 6:2-5). - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/12/) — Adam and Eve hid "because I was afraid" (Genesis 3:8-10); fear of punishment and of looking bad drives lying. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/13/) — Confucius said, "To make a mistake and not correct it: that is the real mistake" (Analects 15.30). - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/14/) — Owning up late is still worth it: the prodigal son came home after a long time, and his father ran to meet him (Luke 15:20). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/15/) — "A confession that excuses itself is half a confession," says the vicar; "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord" (Psalm 32:5). - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/16/) — The law says to confess the wrong and make full restitution (pay back all of it), adding a fifth (Numbers 5:6-7); Jesus said to be reconciled with your brother before bringing your gift (Matthew 5:23-24). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/17/) — People forgive faster when you tell them than when they discover it themselves; "Confess your sins to each other" (James 5:16). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/18/) — The story of young George Washington, later the first President of the USA, chopping down his father's cherry tree and saying "I cannot tell a lie" first appeared in Mason Locke Weems's biography (1806 edition) and is almost certainly invented. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/19/) — Slang check: "eh" is a Canadian word added to the end of a sentence; "salty" means annoyed; "wisnae" (Scotland) means wasn't; Tim Tams are Australian chocolate biscuits. - ← previous: [Vows, oaths and promises in faith](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/88-vows-oaths-and-promises-in-faith/) - next →: [Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)