accidentally
damaged and the response will
be accordingly
I was refreshingly intrigued to read the story, “‘I couldn’t believe it was my son who did it’: boy, 4, smashes bronze age jar in Israel museum” by Ashifa Kassam in the Guardian.
Ms. Kassam writes of an incident at the Hecht Museum in Israel where a 4 year boy knocked over and smashed a 3,500 year old vase that was ‘Older than King David.’
Ms. Hassem wrote that the parents, “They were not expecting what came next, however. “Instead of imposing fines or punishment, they invited us to visit again,” said Alex [The Dad].
This time the visit would include an organised tour, in an attempt to “sweeten” the family’s previous experience at the museum, the museum’s director, Inbal Rivlin, said in a statement.
Mr. Rivlin is quoted as saying, “There are instances where display items are intentionally damaged, and such cases are treated with great severity, including involving the police. In this case, however, this was not the situation. The jar was accidentally damaged by a young child visiting the museum, and the response will be accordingly.”
Someone in 2024, was allowed to have an accident.
No lawyers.
No police.
No courts.
The people who knew the situation said it was an accident and that accidents happen.
How refreshing!
I am happy to know accidents can still happen.
When I was 12, I was the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and in their display on Pirates, there were some gold doubloons mounted on the wall.
I eyeballed them, then I reached out and touched one.
BRAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM the alarms went off.
A guard slid an accordion style metal grate across the entrance to the display hall.
I suppose I should have been scared, but by age 12 I had mastered the air of concerned innocence in times of stress and when the guard ran over to check the display, he went right past me without a glance.
Once the guard was able to verify nothing was missing the alarm was turned off and the grate was slid back and I started to breath again.
For crying out loud, why did they have them glued to the wall if we weren’t supposed to touch them.
I joined up with my family and we walked on to other rooms, passing by a display of what was identified as Theodore Roosevelt’s desk.
This desk was also known as the Resolute Desk but President Nixon, aware of its history with JFK, chose not to use it in the White House and it was put the Smithsonian.
You cannot image how happy I was to read that a few months later after my Pirate Coin incident, at a Museum Black Tie Gala, the Director of the Smithsonian was showing the Roosevelt desk to some dignitaries when one of them asked if the lid could be raised and the Director said he didn’t know, so he reached over the velvet ropes and grabbed the top of the desk and BRAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ….
But I digress.
What happened to accidents?
Don’t accidents happen anymore?
Maybe once in a while and luckily one happened in the Hecht Museum in Israel.
Never heard of it, but I would like to go there.
No Haiku For You 