My husband and I went to the beach on a lovely, sunny summer day. We put our blanket down next to a little kid and his grandmother, who was very nice. This little boy was a riot. He had a little yellow pail, and ran with it down to the water to scoop up one of the little fish that were schooling in the shallows. He was so excited when he caught one. He anxiously carried the pail back to where we were, sat down, and watched it swimming around in the little pail full of seawater. He was transfixed. In fact, he was so happy that he practically stuck his face in the pail and yelled “AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH” at the top of his lungs.

After that, as most kids do, he soon became bored with his new toy and began rooting around for other things to occupy himself. In the process, without realizing it, he kicked the bucket over and the fish spilled out on to the sand with the water. Unfortunately none of us noticed it until it was too late. When the little boy realized what had happened, he came up to me and my husband and said to us: “A fish has died.” We and his grandmother burst out laughing. It seems as though humans are born knowing how to evade guilt. How did a 3- or 4-year old boy come up with that? It was very clever.