Eyewitness

Many years ago in a class at Kent State, it might have been English, the door of the classroom suddenly opened and a guy walked across the room, dropped off something and exited very quickly.

We were all a little stunned and waited for the professor to say something.  What he did say was that our job was to write a full description of the man who had just crashed our class (he had it set up).  So we started -- hmmm, did I actually see his eyes?  Was he medium-height or taller?  What kind of shoes was he wearing?

Quite soon, it became obvious that we all saw something different from one another, and it was also quite obvious that we were not trained observers of life.  After about 15-20 minutes or so, when we'd finished our descriptions, the professor had the young man come back in again.  Yep, we'd gotten it wrong in many different ways.

Yet, it has taken courts and police and just about everyone else a long time to admit what should have been obvious  all along -- eyewitness observations are not very accurate.  What our eyes tell the brain is not always what is.  Given time and the input of others, what we saw or though we saw had become even more skewed, and can even become false memories (that is, something that never happened at all.)

People have spent years and years in prison because of inaccurate eyewitness testimony.  Most courts now cast doubt on cases using mostly eyewitness statements and well they should.

There is a CSI game that is on sale this Christmas.  It makes a person use their powers of observation, and that can't be a bad thing for anyone -- kid or adult.  It makes the mind keener, more alert, more involved.  We could all use a little of the CSI game.

And another thing we could use -- an admission that what we see isn't necessarily what happened.  We need to understand that in a moment of fear or surprise, the events might not have unfolded as we remember.

With the advent of video cameras everywhere hiding in peoples' phones, and cameras on many streets, why try to use only the observations of a witness when you can see the actual thing?  Or check DNA instead of relying on someone's memory?

A guy from our general area went to prison years ago because his relative named him as the killer in a particularly gruesome murder.  He always proclaimed his innocence and he was finally exonerated.  In Cleveland last week, the identification by a 13-year-old was finally thrown out because the boy, now a man, admitted he hadn't told the truth.  So two more people went free.

Helping kids learn to use their eyes might be a good to learn in school.  Not to find criminals necessarily, but just because it makes good sense!  It's better than having their faces glued to a phone screen.

I'm going to check on the CSI game.  Meanwhile, test yourself.  See what you can notice.  Challenge someone as to who can get the most information.

God gave us eyes and ears to pay attention with.  We might as well use them to the fullest.

Take care -- talk to you tomorrow.