Evidence in the book is that the woman never compared him to another person... and then the boy trusted her. But the lady, when she said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say, but didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well I wasn’t going to say that...” the boy thought she was going to compare him against her at a young age, but she didn’t! And let me repeat, then the boy trusted her

 

Why it isn’t helpful 

What If... 

It isn’t helpful to be told that someone behaved better than you because first, if they just say that you would think, “Well what did they do better than me?” You should tell that person what the other person did to help them improve. If they know what they did, it’s not nice to make them feel bad like that, you should kindly explain what they did and tell them not to do it again.  

Second, what if the person doesn’t know something. Say that a child starts to eat in a call with their mouth slightly open and didn’t know that was rude. Others who know would think its rude, and say that, “This other participant in the call behaved better than you! He didn’t eat, with his mouth open!” You should explain not to do it instead of degrading them for something they didn’t even know about. It wouldn’t be fair or helpful if you didn’t do that and criticized them for it. It’s like punishing a baby for breaking something. 

 

Lastly, what if it was an accident? Say someone drops some glass on the floor by accident. You shouldn’t say, “He didn’t drop glass! He behaved much better than you!” You should realize that it was an accident and not say that to them. 

Evidence 

 

Why it is helpful 

If someone is bad and you say, “This person did something better,” then the person who did bad would be in an invisible competition and try to be better than the other person, making them both good. 

When Mrs. Jones kicked Roger, I don’t think he trusted her, because he said he would turn lose if the woman released him. All the way to the walk to the hotel, I don’t think Roger was even starting to warm up to her because being in a headlock is not comfortable. I also think Roger was nervous because he is afraid that the woman will turn him over to the police. Then, when Mrs. Jones told Roger to wash his face, I think that he started to rust her because he was caring for him in a way. Then Roger starts to trust Mrs. Jones even more when she says that she won’t turn him over to the police. Slowly, his trust increases when she gives him food, and talks to him. In the part of the book when the woman says, ‘“Here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes”’, I think that is the part where Rogers trust is completely fulfilled.