I find it intriguing that people have to come to their own realizations sometimes to be able to see things. I can be told something profound, but unless it hits me, I won't be able to apply it or truly see the meaning of it.
This is from a Radiolab episode titled "Morality."
There's a mother who comes in to drop her son off at school and arrives early. The teacher invites her into this closet where she could watch her son from a hidden glass window where the kids couldn't see them. She was watching them and suddenly saw her son tackle his best friend. Everyone gathered around. The kid was laying on the ground and when he got up he had a bloody lip. "He was mortified and scared by his own actions," the mother said. At that moment she says she regretted not having gone in and doing anything. But her sister said, "the best thing you did was stay out of it."
"Jack had to see the consequences of his own actions on his own terms."