Throughout a person's life, he or she will encounter many situations in which that person will face hardships, questionable decisions, and difficult situations. Many times the way out of these instances can be found by taking the "easy way." Would the "easy way" necessarily be the "right" way? Personally, I believe that there are no times when cheating is right. Cheating has consequences, and creates an internal struggle in the person.

As stated in the above prompt, cheating can be found in many facets of the world we are living in. It is not rare to hear about famous athletes using supplements, or "enhancers" to achieve or win awards. These are people we look up to. Many of us can be tempted to follow their example. We have witnessed numerous times how cheating has backfired on successful athletes and ruined their careers. We have the case of Lance Armstrong, who after being at the top of his career, finally admitted to blood doping and using steroids. Not only did these actions negatively affect his body, they also ruined his reputation. We all have people who follow our example, whether it is siblings, children, or other young people. This younger generation learns visually, and they will one day be the future leaders of their generation. Do we really want future world leaders who are corrupt? Maybe we justify our cheating by saying it is a one-time thing, or that what no one knows won't hurt him or her, however nothing is without consequence.

Cheating also causes an internal struggle in the person performing said action. Feelings of guilt can overcome a person when they realize that their action can't be reversed. This can be detrimental to their family life, social life, and ultimately health. It has been proven that stress can decrease a person's immune system, causing them to be more prone to being sick. The sicknesses cannot only be physical, but mental as well. Mental illnesses include depression and bipolar disorder. Wouldn't be better to avoid these consequences by not cheating in the first place?

There's nothing more valuable than a clean reputation and a clean conscience. Although cheating is something seen quite frequently, we do not want to fall into this trap. There's no other way to put it. Cheating not only has severe consequences, that create an internal struggle and affect a person physical and mentally, but also affects the people around the person. We all have a personal decision to make when being tempted to take the easy way out. Let us have the same mental attitude as Sophocles when he says, "I would prefer even to fail with horn than to win by cheating."