I cut up a sponge with a knife while I was cleaning the knife. It was an accident. Does it matter if it was an accident or if I did it on purpose? It didn't to my father, but it did to me while I was being shouted at for cutting up a sponge with a knife. The funny thing is, when I did it, I didn't even notice. I just swiped the sponge over the sharp edge of the knife and put it back without even looking. I was insulted, called an idiot, and many other things for cutting up a sponge with a knife while I was cleaning it. How do you even respond to that? What do you say? It's not like we were on equal ground either - he's my father and I was just a child. A child being screamed at for slicing up a sponge with a knife. I couldn't really say anything back, I just said that I didn't do it because at the time I really did not remember doing it. While the blaming was happening, I slowly realized what'd happened, but I wasn't going to admit it by then. Was it really such an awful thing to do? To make a couple of deep cuts in a kitchen sponge? It's not like the sponge was new or special in any way. We had a whole pack of them in the cupboard. It wasn't expensive either. Why does this story still haunt me to this day? Why do every time I clean a knife I make sure to be extra careful and not damage the sponge? Is this supposed to be good parenting? Did I learn a valuable lesson about conservation? Hell no. It's a scar. It's a scar that I carry with me, that makes my life just that little bit more difficult. And the person who scared me? He probably doesn't even remember doing it. Just like I did not remember severing a sponge with a blade.