Look the Other Way

My Mom always said, "Don't do anything that you would be ashamed of if it made headlines on tomorrow's newspaper's front page." That's a mouthful but I have always remembered it. I haven't always abided by it...

But I LOVE to judge others and want to race up to them with a copy of the morning paper with headlines on it to reflect their dastardly deed...

Example:
I witness a Mother literally dragging her 3 year old, hysterical, screaming child by a limp arm out the doors of a local grocery store.
"I NEED TO TEACH HER A LESSON", I think to myself.
I KNOW it is none of my business but I want to show her what COULD be HER headlines:
"Mother loses her mind and is thrown into jail for life for dislocating her innocent son's arm after he asked his Mother politely for a candy bar."
then when I would show the fantasy newspaper to the Mother. But wait..there is a twist to this fable...the Mother informs me that this "angel" raced up and down the aisles, arms flailing and knocking down 240 cans of dog food; then tried to STEAL 14 Snickers bars and proceeded to kick the manager as he attempted to calm the little rascal. The Mother continued to spew at me - This incident in the grocery was just one in a long line of fun happenings for her that day. By 9:14 a.m., her 5 month old had soiled the 4th outfit of the day; the dog had eaten Mom's new purse, along with her address book; and her 4 year-old had flushed the cat down their one and only toilet. The Vet and Plumber bills came to $368.54. Then she opened the mail to find she was being audited by the IRS for 3 years ago and thse records were accidentally destroyed by fire by ~ guess who? "angel-boy" ~ just two weeks ago. At that point, she decided to make a visit to the grocery's pharmacy to pick up her over-due anti-depressant medication when her "little darling" disrupted the shopping experience of those in the store.

I held up my hand to stop her from continuing and I managed to humbly whisper a "sorry 'bout your luck" and retreated back to my childless home that has white furniture that is used all the time ~ but still white...and 4 toilets that flush..no cats...and nice beds that are available for me to take a nap when I want.

I'm wondering if I missed the pearls of wisdom from Mom that suggested that I should mind my own business. New motto - "Their dog..their fleas"