Anyway, this morning's Calvin & Hobbes comic strip is another amusing but thought-provoking episode where Calvin muses over whether to cheat in an exam or not. To do the right thing and fail vs do the wrong thing and succeed.
Just in case the strip is too small to read, sharing with you the transcript as well:
Calvin:
Today at school, I tried to decide whether to cheat on my test or not.
I wondered is it better to do the right thing and fail ... or is it better to do the wrong thing and succeed?
On the one hand, undeserved success gives no satisfaction ....but on the other hand, well-deserved failure gives no satisfaction either.
Of course, most everybody cheat some time or other. People always bend the rules if they think they can get away with it... Then again, that doesn't justify my cheating.
Then I thought, look, cheating on one little test isn't such a big deal. It doesn't hurt anyone.
...But then I wondered if I was just rationalizing my unwillingness to accept the consequence of not studying.
Still in the real world, people care about success, not principles.
...then again, maybe that's why the world is in such a mess.
What a dilemma!
Hobbes: So what did you decide?
Calvin: Nothing. I ran out of time and I had to turn in a blank paper.
Hobbes: Anymore, simply acknowledging the issue is a moral victory.
Calvin: Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.
Don't you just love Calvin? His musings with Hobbes are thought-provoking and are packed with much more wisdom than our regular adult conversations. :)
