MANISH TAKES A STAND

MANISH: I am sure in a mess. I don’t know what I should do.

RITA: What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?

MANISH: I have a terrible, horrible, gigantic problem. I wish I could crawl into a hole and never come out.

RITA: What happened? It can’t be that bad.

MANISH: My friends were studying for the math test we have to take tomorrow in school, and they have all decided to cheat on the test.

RITA: We are Jains, and we learned in Pathshala that we should not cheat. Anyway, you always pass the math tests with a hundred.

MANISH: My mother helps me study and I study a lot, that’s why I have been passing all the tests.

RITA: Well, then why are you so upset?

MANISH: The boys at school want to use my paper to cheat from.

RITA: Oh, no! You didn’t agree to that, did you?

MANISH: No, but I didn’t say they couldn’t either.

RITA: Why not?

MANISH: I did not want to make them mad. They would call me names, and I just

hate to be called names.

RITA: Well, if you cheat, you will be in big trouble.

MANISH: I wouldn’t be cheating, just the others.

RITA: You need to be honest. Helping them on the test is not being honest, which makes you a cheater too. That’s dishonest, and then you will get pap (bad karmas).

MANISH: What should I do?

RITA: You know what is right. You need to stand up for what you believe in.

MANISH: Even if they call me all kinds of names that I don’t like?

RITA: They will do that for a little while, but soon they will forget it.

MANISH: I will ask my mother if they can come to my house to study, then they won’t have to cheat. They can make good grades honestly.

RITA: See, you answered your own question. Great!

MANISH: Now, I don’t have to be upset or worried.

RITA: How does worrying solve your problems?

MANISH: Well, I guess it doesn’t. The best answer is to stand up for what is right, and always follow the Jain principles we have learned.

RITA: I agree to that.