If you caught someone you know in a compromising position, would you tell on them? I’m not really nosy and don’t go out of my way to dig into other people’s business but sometimes you stumble upon things you just can’t ignore. I was at a party a while back and run into my 16 year old cousin who was supposed to be in school. It wasn’t the kind of party girls her age would typically attend and while I didn’t want to think the worst, I knew deep down that she was there with someone, most likely an older man and I was right. She begged me not to tell her mother who happens to be my Aunt and I just nodded because I didn’t know what else to say. I don’t keep many things from my own mother and so I snitched on my cousin but only because I felt somebody had to intervene. The girl could have ended up pregnant and I didn’t want to carry the guilt of having known what was going on and not having done anything about it. So between me and my Mum, we decided that it was best to let my Aunt know so she could maybe talk to her daughter and nip whatever was going on in the bud. Of course if the shoe was on the other foot, I would’ve been angry if a relative I’d specifically asked to keep her mouth shut went ahead and told my parents what I was up to. In my defense though, I really was looking out for her in line with the “Child raised by a village” approach. Sometimes, it takes the nosy adults and elders in our lives to remind us of what’s truly important and set us on a straight path. So my cousin may hate me now but if she stays focused and does well in school, she’ll thank me five, ten years from now. This incident is not the only time I’ve found myself in a dilemma, unsure if I should conceal or divulge what I know about someone. I remember learning that a friend’s husband was having an affair at a hospital of all places. I was there for a scheduled appointment and he was there to check on his other son who had broken his arm in a fight at his school. I knew it wasn’t my place to tell my friend and so I didn’t say a word although personally, I think I would want to know about something like that. It would only go to show that my friends were looking out for me and better that than to be blindsided. I however decided that both my friend and her man are adults and if he decides to come clean, he should do it on his own. I just hope that if and when he chooses to tell her, my name doesn’t come up, because knowing my friend, she’ll ask why I never told her.
