Living the Good Life

Honesty and integrity are two of the most important traits to have, not only at Greendale, but in life. For me, these traits are second nature. For others, it takes hard work to overcome the temptation of cheating. In light of recent events here at Greendale, I have taken it upon myself to stress exactly how costly it can be to cheat.

It all starts with a small exception. You may be on a diet, trying to lose weight, and you see a horribly delicious cheeseburger in the cafeteria. You think, "Just once won't hurt," or, "Only this one time." Once you eat that cheeseburger you become a cheater. You have cheated on a promise you made to yourself, and it only escalates from there. Next up, a carton of ice cream and cookies. I speak from experience on this one

As soon as you make that first exception it becomes easier to justify your actions. You may forget that you have an exam in your accounting class. You need a passing grade on the test in order to graduate. You can't let your family and friends down for a fourth year in a row. So you just peek at your neighbor's test to make sure your answers are right. If they don't match, you change yours. No big deal, right? WRONG.

You pass your exam and no one finds out that you cheated so you begin to feel more and more comfortable bending the rules. You slack off at your job and then realize you have an article deadline at eight in the morning. Instead of staying up to write the article you remember that there are easier ways to solve the problem. Just go online and search for an interesting article that you can pass off as your own. Re-type it and turn it in to your editor.

You get wild praises from the newspaper staff as well as the editor, until the original author calls the school and tells them that they had in fact written the article. The editor tells the dean, the dean tells your professors, your professors review all of your exams and papers and it's all over. You get expelled from the school and are never allowed to return to take classes at any of the top universities in the nation. Your record is tarnished forever.

But like I said before, I am fortunate that honesty and integrity comes easy to me, except on occasion when I'm faced with that cheeseburger. I win 90% of time. If you are among those that must resist the temptation to cheat, then I urge you to use all the will you have to do so. It is not worth it, so I've heard.

So go forth in this world, especially here at Greendale, and be the most honest and ethical person you can be from this day forward. I know I have.

Editor's Note: All articles by this staff writer are currently under review.