Am I Always Responsible for My Actions? What Makes Me, Me? And Other Interesting Questions

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On the banks of a river sits a scorpion.

This scorpion has got lost

and she's separated from her family by a huge river.

Mama!

Now, you may not know this but scorpions can't swim.

So she can't cross it. She's stuck.

Ribbit.

At that moment, a frog passes by.

Ribbit, ribbit.

Now, of course, frogs can swim, so she asks the frog for help.

"Ho-ho-ho," says the frog. "I don't think so.

"Scorpions and frogs are deadly enemies.

"Scorpions sting frogs. When we're halfway across, you'll sting me."

"Why would I do that?" says the scorpion. "It makes no sense.

"If I sting you, I won't get across the river to my family."

But the scorpion can see that the frog's still not sure.

And so she says, "I promise I won't sting you."

What do you think?

CHILDREN CHATTER

I think that the frog should carry the scorpion across the river

because she's probably tired and exhausted from running around.

When she gets to the other side of the river, she won't have

time to sting the frog and then carry it all the way back home

because she'll be so tired already.

Actually, I disagree.

Scorpions can't resist poisoning people or other animals

because it's actually in their nature that they will sting or not sting.

Eventually, after a lot of pleading from the scorpion,

the frog agrees to carry her across the river.

Oof! Now, what looks like a short distance to you is quite

a long journey for a frog, especially when you've got

someone your own size on your back and it's a scorpion. "Woo-hoo!"

Halfway across the river, the frog feels a sharp pain on his head.

"Aw!" The scorpion has stung him.

"Why did you do that?" screams the frog.

"Now we'll both drown."

"I can't help it," says the scorpion. "Scorpions sting frogs.

"It's in my nature."

And with that, both the scorpion and the frog sink down into the river.

Blub-blub-blub! Ribbit!

I think it was the frog's fault because if he didn't carry the

scorpion across the river halfway, they both wouldn't have died.

I think it's the scorpion's fault

because even though... If it's in your nature,

or in your personality, to sting this person,

to sting that animal, you can actually stop yourself.

I think they were both responsible for it.

The scorpion's fault for breaking her promise

and the frog's fault for knowing that she's going to sting him,

but not being clever enough to not listen and swim away.

When the scorpion said "It's in my nature",

I think she meant that's what all her kind does, and that's what she

grew up to do and what she's going to grow her little kids up to do.

That's all very well for frogs and scorpions,

but what does this have to do with humans?

Well, let's take Karim as an example.

Karim's always been a bit, well, careless with other people's things.

Ah! Yeah!

GLASS SMASHES

Karim's best friend Sophie has a telescope he wants to borrow.

Hello.

The thing is, Sophie's not sure. She knows Karim is careless.

But he promises to be careful with it.

So eventually, she decides to lend him the telescope.

Karim heads off, carrying the telescope extra carefully.

Phew!

He spends the evening, looking at the stars,

making sure he's being extra careful.

And the next day, on his way to return it to Sophie, he sees a group

of little baby scorpions looking cute on the bank of the river.

Uh-oh. Looks like Karim might not have been extra careful this time.

Hi.

And that means he has broken his promise to Sophie.

She's probably going to be rather upset.

I know it's in his nature to be careless,

but he has to remember that this is his best friend we're

talking about, someone that he's known for a long time probably,

and when he says I'm going to bring it back to you,

he has to remember that in his head.

Imagine you're at a buffet

and there's lots of food and you've had lots.

You can stop yourself from eating lots of food.

It's up to you what you want to do.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd