*** said (4:34 PM):
dami?
*** said (4:38 PM):
thanks for the lecture
no sarcasm
it was more of an eye opener sort of thing
*** said (4:39 PM):
it was almost getting to the point were it was like a repulse action when talking about it with ** afterwards
*** said (4:40 PM):
kinda realize now i don't need to cheat
to do well
so yeah thanks

This was gonna be a serious angry rant post until a few minutes ago, before I got this message.

One sunny day, my friends and I got into an argument about cheating; before leaving from school, I caught them on their routine pre-test-lingering-around act. And although both sides of the already screaming argument tried to avoid the sensitive and condemning topic, what could have been a rare and peaceful sunny walk home, couldn't be so.

I find that in most arguments, unless both sides are both very reasonable and detached from emotion, no one really wins, no matter now plausible or reasonable either side is. So the whole way home, this sensitive topic, like all issues concerning morals, morphed up an intense atmosphere and became an unwinnable battle between the "good guy" and the "joker".

In front of my friends and a mob of "it's just a test"'s to try to fend off, once again, I had been forced into the role of the too-sensitive, too-much-pride Goodie Two Shoes, whom I preferably like to call the "good guy". "Good guys" are ones, maybe duller than the other kind, that have nothing to prove but the fact that they have morals; and couldn't cheat their conscience only because they are unstable and shapeless without their sturdy rock called morals. They have too much pride to let their ambitions budge and too much ambition to let the "jokers" off the hook. Also, they probably have a foolish if not subconscious hope that "you reap what you sow" and they will one day be rewarded for their resistance.

Jokers aren't stupid. They understand that their actions are wrong but cleverly and even subconsciously justify their actions with everyone-does-its and it's-not-so-wrongs, and lessen the enormity of their injustifiable decisions. They cleverly disguise themselves well and try to turn the whole situation into a joke. Some of them also hide the deceitful and cowardly act it in a facade of a rebellious act, which in today's teen culture, is mostly accepted without question; what could be "cooler" than "not caring?" But if the so-called rebellious teens don't care, why cheat in the first place for grades they don't care about? One thing I want to say to them is, if you really don't care, don't come to class. Simple as that. (And if you're worried about graduation, it's actually quite effortless to just barely pass to graduate without attending much of school) The hippocricity is overwhelming. However, I think this type makes up only a small portion of the popular joker association (most cheaters prefer to cheat in groups/partners, thus the "association"). Another portion is made up by the saint-by-day and cheater-by-night type. This type irritates me the most because I think they are a great example of "wolves in a lamb's costume". They are rarely blamed for anything because they claim their righteous morals on a daily basis, by trashing the moral crimes they are not related to and have no genuine interest in defying. They are the biggest hipocrites because their fiery opinions on moral issues mysteriously die down when it comes to cheating. This is a great example of betrayal of morals for ambition; maybe the true temptations are not drugs or alcohol, maybe they're the ones that offer a easy way up on the ladder and give way to our neverending ambitions.

∴ambition + temptation = evil?

The great mystery. In today's English class, we discussed if ambitions are the root of evil, and if we should pursue it, nevertheless. I think.. we concluded that once your ambitions turn to greed, you are more likely to betray your morals. Macbeth encounters the same dilema, and must decide between his raging ambitions or his familiar morals. After much scorning from his wife, whom I think represents Macbeth's ambition, chooses to murder Duncan; and don't worry, I won't say "look what happened to Macbeth" because, well, we all have our own battles to fight and soliloquys to write.

Then, you may be saying, if we ultimately make our own decisions despite the full-throttle attempts at "guidance", why not just leave the poor friends alone?! Well, that's because I'm no moral saint, and I don't, and won't ever, pretend to be one. Pretending to be a moral saint has one definite result which is hipocricity. (In fact, life would be very sad if either we or the ones close to us were "moral saints")
I have had my share of pocket-pickings and test-peakings and I admit the wrongness and will suffer the consequences but I won't try to justify it because in most our cases, it can't be justified. We did not suffer a moral dilema of wrong vs. another wrong. For the ones who chose to cheat, it was a dilema between right vs. wrong, making it inexcusable.

Anyways, before I got carried away with my idea of justice, I was talking about why I taunt my friends if I believe it is ultimately their decision. Moral saints don't do much of self-construction or self-development. When people, not moral saints, help, not only is it highly unlikely to not feel even the least amount of pride after positively changing a course of someone's life, it is what get many people motivated. Which makes "helping", sort of like a good selfish act.

Therefore, because I am a selfish person like any other, I "help" and try to fulfill my purpose-One of the purposes in life being, whether you are religious or not, to positively influence others into a direction that offers the most against all the odds because it's just not logical to think that you are the shining star in this world populated with 6.7 billion people, with roughly 5babies being born every second and 25000 children dying each day due to poverty, and with nearly HALF of that 6.7billion living on less than $2.50 a day, with less than TWO percent of that getting a post-secondary education, it is just so pointless climbing on top by betraying your conscience, which should be the most important out of like... everything.

So in the spirit of doing my part, I attempt to influence. And it was uplifting when I got the message, although I have no way of telling whether it was an honest confession or just BS, but as friends, all you can do is have faith.

Oh, and of course, there's that good old "if you cheat, you're only cheating yourself" business.. But seriously.. Although I believe and hope my friends are not stupid enough to think they can get away with this elsewhere, it does have potential of becoming a habit. I'm not tryna pour the negativity and jinx the promising futures, but you could actually get kicked out of college for cheating and it will without doubt majorly affect your life. Also, if you believe you get away with this moral crime, with the right motive and ambition, you could bend any moral crime. Moral is no moral at all if it can be compromised.

In a time where we more likely listen to tips-of-the-days and Oprah instead of our conscience, cheating has become something so commonly practiced and practical, the true hideousness behind it becoming clouded, along with our judgment.
I'm just gona finish by saying I lied when I said it wasn't gona be a rant post because it so obviously is..