Definition of Cheating

DEFINITION of CHEATING Have you ever forgotten to study for a test but still gotten an “A”? Have you ever been in last place but still ended up winning the game? Have you ever been romantically involved with more than one person at the same time? If you have answered “yes” to any of the following questions, you might be a cheater! Cheating is a word that is all too familiar to most people in the world. Many try to find justification for their actions but, in reality, there is no just way to cheat.
Cheating is a dishonest, immoral, and dishonorable action that puts yourself at an unfair advantage over your peers or opponents, or earns you something that you do not deserve, by breaking a rule, whether it be a moral rule, or actual written rules of an organization. Even though most people would be reluctant to admit it, cheating is a very common occurrence and there are probably more people that have cheated at one point or another, than have not. Whether in sports, school, or even in a relationship, cheating is cheating and there is never a right way to do it!
Competition runs deep in the veins of a lot of people. For many, a win is a win, no matter what the game, or what means were taken. I am sorry to inform you but, those people are part of the definition of a cheater. We would like to think that our sports are always fair and judged objectively, and a pound for pound battle to the end. That is not always the case. Too often, a team is favored by a referee or a match will be thrown for an amount of money or some other “under the table” bribe.

To me, this takes the magic out of the game. When you find out a boxing match was fixed, what is the fun in getting involved and cheering for a side? The point of watching a competition is to watch two evenly matched opponents, or teams, duke it out until the end of the game and one is declared the winner. When you consider things like steroids, it seems so common that it is almost accepted, and even expected, but it is still an unfair advantage.
Over the decades, sports have become more demanding on the athlete and the competition seems more intense than ever before, but I believe the beauty of a sport is the honesty and heart of the game. Why practice if the outcome is fixed? Why spend months in training if a team is going to be paid off? For some competitors, losing is the worst thing and would rather have a victory they did not earn, and actually stole from the opponent by giving themselves an advantage over the other team. But this is cheating, and it is a dishonest, immoral, unjust way of “coming out on top”.
Another very different, but equally repulsive way of cheating is cheating in a relationship. There may not be written guidelines and rules to being in a relationship, but they are still there. Everyone should have a conscience and be able to take another’s feelings into consideration enough to treat them with the respect that any person deserves, especially a person with which you are romantically involved. However, there are those people out there who just can’t say no to a tempting offer.
They like to experience “the best of both worlds”, as Hannah Montana would say, but this is no way to treat a human being. If you make a conscious decision to intentionally violate the moral code of a relationship and have more than one person of romantic interest, even though the rules may be unspoken and it is more of a ‘treat your partner how you would expect or want to be treated’ thing, then that makes you a cheater. (And a despicable person, but that is just my opinion. ) A relationship is a caring bond based on mutual interests and respect.
When you sneak around and have a secret fling on the side, sooner or later, the truth will come out and it could cause extreme emotional pain to the person who has been cheated on. It is a selfish and inconsiderate choice, but it is one made intentionally, for personal gain, and is not as uncommon as we might like it to be. Finally, probably the most common form of cheating, in my opinion, is cheating in school. Getting good grades requires hard work and is a very rewarding thing when it is earned. However, there are those people out there who receive the credit without doing the work.
Some students like to take the easy way out and cheat. They either copy answers from a friend, with or without them knowing, or find some other way to get around studying and still make good grades. Again, this is an immoral and selfish choice since the cheater has put no work in but has received credit. Some students cheat because they are just lazy; however, there are several kids out there who will go to great lengths to come up with some very sneaky, subtle way of copying down answers and hiding them.
They put more work into cheating than it would take to actually study, which makes no sense except to assume that cheating is something they enjoy. It is like the students want to feel like they have “one-upped” the teacher, so to say, by getting an “A” without putting in work, like they have outsmarted them or something. But, in the end, the joke is on the cheater. Teachers have a point for teaching and when the student doesn’t study and learn the subject, it will just be harder on them in the long run.
Hard work is exactly what it sounds like, but if you do the work, it always pays off. The alternative never does. Cheating comes in many different forms and for many different reasons; however none of those reasons are justifiable, nor will cheating ever benefit you in any way. Cheating is a form of lying: it involves being dishonest with others, it will always catch up with you, and never will it have a positive effect on you or those around you. Life is unfair as it is, and when you throw cheaters in the mix, what chance does an honest person have these days?