Everybody Does It

Everybody Does It

U.S. Politician Jesse Ventura once said, "Win if you can, lose if you must, but ALWAYS cheat!" Spoken like a born leader. Cheating is such a controversial topic, everyone has something negative to say about it, but in all actuality everyone has or will commit some form of cheating. Whether it's cheating on a test or quiz, to committing adultery, it's become an everyday occurrence. It's so common nowadays cheating has become the norm. No longer do people think twice about cheating. Ever since 2002, when corporate executives cheated shareholders by altering their accounts, we have to ask ourselves if cheating has become the thing to do. What happened to morals? Why do people cheat you might ask? There are so many different reasons why but none of them are valid.

Some people cheat today because they simply cannot get everything done in the time needed. Life has become so rushed, intense, and busy. To cut corners we look towards cheating -fudging your timesheet to get paid more, calling out of work just so that you can get your hair and nails done, or cheating to win a race. Imagine being a single mother of three and today is your day off "supposedly" -you have to drop off your oldest son at soccer practice, your second oldest needs to be dropped off at Lacrosse practice, your baby girl has tennis practice, you have to prepare dinner but you have no groceries in the house, so that means you must go grocery shopping. Not only that but you still need to clean the house before your family gets here from out of town. Your boss called you early this morning and asked if you could work today, still sleep you said "sure". Two hours pass and you finally wake up remembering that you told your boss that you would be at work by four o' clock and it is now eleven o' clock. "There's not enough time in the day" you think to yourself. Now you're panicking trying to get everything done in the time allotted but realistically thinking it's not going to happen. After five years of perfect attendance you have no choice but to call out of work. You dial, the phone rings, your boss answers, and you don't know what to say. Your mind goes blank and the first thing that comes out of your mouth is a lie, "My daughter is sick" your boss is very concerned now and asks "what's wrong with her, will she be alright?" You reply "just a little head cold" Your boss gives you the day off with pay and you don't know what to say, so you hang up. When people are faced with challenges such as time constraints sometimes there's is nothing you can do but lie which is another form of cheating.

When asked the question "Why do people cheat"? Jhyde Diamond of Groton, CT stated "More people are cheating today because they think everyone else cheats and in order to move up in society you have to cheat. "I guess it's true what they say "the good guys finish last". Now even the people that always work hard for everything they received are cheating because they figure there's no point in working hard when everyone else isn't. Key example, students at Winston Salem State University were caught taking pictures of test questions with their cellular phones and receiving the answers via text message, the university cut off internet access from laptops, demanded the surrender of cell phones before tests or simply requiring the exams be taken the old fashion way (with pens and paper) as reported by Melessia Kellar of East Windsor, CT.

People cheat today because they want to get ahead, but more because they fear the embarrassment of failure. Parents and society have extremely high expectations for children -you're a failure if you don't go to college. Companies also place a huge responsibility on its employees -you have to be successful and rich in order to be happy.

Plagued with this fear of being a failure, far too many people try to find the easy way out by any means necessary. For instance, say your Vice President of an up and coming Software Company. Since your company is new you have to work an excess of 80 hours a week, you have three meetings for potential clients and two proposals that are due in 15 minutes. The future of the company