I have a saying that I tell my Taekwondo students and it goes like this. “If you cheat, the only person you are cheating is yourself. why would you want to cheat yourself?” This statement is very true. It robs you of the satisfaction of a job well done or achieving a personal goal the right way. And if you get caught it will taint your creditability for what you did, what you have done, and possibly what you will do.
But cheating goes beyond just hurting you. It can hurt the people around you, the organizations you belong to, your team mates, and the sports you do. Below are a few examples of how you cheating can lose the creditability for others as well as yourself.
In competitive martial arts breaking, athletes break wood, concrete, baseball bats, and etc,. When a competitor deciders to use a material that they have made or is not up to standard so they can make themselves look good, it will make the rest of the breakers look bad. Using altered or fake material gives breaking a bad name and hurts everyone doing it.
When two bodybuilders of the same finished built compete again each other and one is all natural and the other one has taken some stuff that is illegal to get the same results. This gives the general population the idea that if one of these huge muscular guys is taking stuff then they all must be taking stuff. It gives the sport and the guys that are natural a bad name. All their hard work is not appreciated because of those who decide they have to cheat to win or compete.
Another example is two professional fighters who are fighting each other in a match. One fighter again is natural where the other fighter has taken illegal substances that help them enhance their performance. It allows them to hit harder for longer compared to the natural trained fighter. Again if one fighter is caught, the media usually raises the question whether or not all fighters are on something. It gives the sport and the organizations a bad name.
Cheating will hurt you and it will hurt others. If you feel you have to cheat than you have two options. 1- Don’t compete. 2- Learn to be better so you don’t have to cheat. It’s not fair to everyone else if you cheat.
Master Jonathan Field