As a kid, temptation could mean having the urge to tell someone a little white lie in order to avoid getting in trouble, lying to your friends in order to keep another person’s secrets under the radar, or telling someone a lie about someone else. It could also be tempting to tell your mom you did some kind of chore when, in reality, you forgot to do it. 

How many of us as kids were out playing on the playground during recess, and all of a sudden some kid wanted to start some sort of a fight with you — whether it was name-calling or a physical beatdown?

Some of us stood our ground and talked back, and maybe some of us actually did throw the first punch ending up in after school detention or even getting a suspension for defending our honor. During that moment of actually giving the kid a piece of his or her own medicine, we had the good feeling of “I’m bigger and better than the person who talked smack or started to punch me first because I stood my ground.” But, after that moment of glory fades, we’re sitting in detention or being suspended, and we look back and think that it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do after all.

Temptation makes us believe that we have a right to do whatever we want, no matter what consequence may happen. It allows us to get completely lost in our own ego and suffer consequences — physically, emotionally and mentally. Spiritual pain, such as the feeling of guilt, tends to wash over us after we make the wrong choice. 

As an adult, the temptation in our world gets more severe. In our college environment, there are all too many temptations around us. These temptations can include drinking before you are of legal age, trying drugs or steroids, lying about plagiarism, or cheating on a test. But it’s our choice whether to give in to those feelings or stay on the right path. We all have to remember that doing the wrong things can hurt others, as well as hurt our reputation and our future. It all depends on how we act and react. We have to choose to do the right thing in the face of temptation, — even though it can be a very difficult choice to make. 

We are all tempted every day. As college students, I know every single one of us has been tempted many times over with wanting to skip classes. Then the even bigger temptation hits you once you skip one class. It becomes easier to continue missing other classes in order to have fun during college or just to relax.

We all can resist that temptation of wanting to skip class, as hard as it may be, by remembering we are all here to get a great education and get good jobs after completing our degrees. Plus the reality of it is if you skip class now, would you continue to skip class and end up having to retake a class or classes just because you skipped so many of them? 

Don’t give in to the temptation that you face in college. Stand firm and choose to do the right thing.

Contact Alexis Wohler at [email protected].