--- title: Owning up when it is hard — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Owning up when it is hard», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Some owning up is hard because it costs you: in front of the class, at a friend's house, or when someone else already took the blame for --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/) [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 when it is hard # Owning up when it is hard Lesson 91 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 17 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/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/0/) — Some owning up is hard because it costs you: in front of the class, at a friend's house, or when someone else already took the blame for you. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/1/) — Picture a football flying through old Mrs Kowalski's greenhouse; all the kids leg it (run away), but Mia stops and goes back, which is brave and honest; most neighbours forgive a child who comes back and owns up. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/2/) — The ancient Greek thinker Aristotle said courage is doing the right thing in spite of fear, and the Bible says, "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong" (Exodus 23:2). - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/3/) — The hardest case is when someone innocent is punished for your fault; letting it go on is "false witness by silence", so you speak up even if it means trouble for you. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/4/) — Owning up fast matters most when someone could be hurt, like a missing guinea pig: then it is about safety as well as honesty. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/6/) — Being a guest means caring for other people's things as if they were your own; "Give to everyone what you owe them" (Romans 13:7). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/7/) — Letting someone believe something false on purpose, like Dad being cross with "some idiot" in a car park, is close to lying. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/8/) — The commandment against false witness protects even strangers' names (Exodus 20:16). - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/9/) — "The righteous care for the needs of their animals" (Proverbs 12:10); when an animal could be hurt, tell straight away so everyone can search. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/10/) — "Each one should carry their own load" (Galatians 6:5); people trust a leader who says "my fault". - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/11/) — "Do not spread false reports" (Exodus 23:1); blaming a brother for what he didn't do wears away trust at home. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/12/) — If a lost thing you were paid for turns up, take it back and tell them: "We are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man" (2 Corinthians 8:21). - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/13/) — God sees what is hidden (Psalm 139:1-4); honesty is the same at home, at school and at church. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/14/) — "Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death" (Exodus 23:7): letting someone be punished for you is false witness by silence. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/15/) — Almost every tradition agrees that punishing the innocent is a serious injustice. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/16/) — Aristotle said courage is doing the right thing in spite of fear. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/17/) — Slang check: "leg it" means run away; "our kid" (Manchester, Liverpool) means my brother or sister; "chuck it" means throw it away. - ← previous: [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/) - next →: [Cheating at school: copying and peeking](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/92-cheating-at-school-copying-and-peeking/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)