I firmly believe that the virtues of integrity and honesty are crucial for leading a good life.
Thinking back on my first year of college, there was a point when I felt pressured by all of my
duties and expectations, not just as a mere student but also as an honor student. I was a top
student in high school, so people expected that my academic performance in college would be as
good as it was. However, that wasn’t the case. I’m barely holding on. I keep getting failed scores
on exams, quizzes, and all. I've realized that college life will never be simple, and it's more of a
competition between me and myself in college.
        Frankly speaking, I struggled with how I handled the situation. I remember that my life was
a mess, as was my academic performance, since I was unable to concentrate, quickly complete
the necessary tasks, and keep up with the demanding time pressures. To keep it short, exam days
came, and when I looked at my exam papers, I saw that my score was just around less than half
of the total, which is much below what I have to maintain. Briefly, I did poorly on my
examinations, which is nothing uncommon in my course. After carefully reading through my
exam paper, I discovered that numerous items had been incorrectly marked off and recorded. I
then have a choice - pretend to be uninformed or bring up the disparity with my professor. In the
end, I decided to tell the truth, and my prior score was reduced by more points. I acted correctly,
not to please other people or to avoid criticism, but because it is the right thing. I made the
proper decision that would lead me to form a virtuous character rather than being influenced by
other factors. In this way, cheating is like betraying the faith placed on us by our teachers in
elementary school. I decided to develop virtue even though I'm an honor student, and this
decision might affect that. Still, my heart will continue to place a high value on morally and
intellectually righteous behavior even if no one is watching. I did it out of respect for the work
my classmates put into our exams, which is another justification for my behavior. Considering I
don't deserve that grade at all, receiving it would be unjust. It would be a lie if I say I didn’t think
twice back then. Several factors, including my family's expectations and the likelihood that I
won't be awarded a scholarship the next year, first confused me. Yet virtue ethics enabled me to
reach my main objective. I feel that by prioritizing virtue over other factors, I got what I
genuinely deserved—a sense of satisfaction, contentment, and true happiness that is well of
pursuit.
        Ultimately, I believe that this sort of behavior corresponds to the ideology of virtue, an
action that is "neither excessive nor deficient," and I was able to resist being misled by certain
circumstances. Even if life causes us to go through a lot of difficult situations, I want to turn
them into reasons for optimism. During difficult times, I yearned to see a different horizon – a
bright one. We must take lessons from mistakes and use them as motivation to create a virtuous
character by consistently doing the right thing. Life may be complicated or, at worst, throw us
back to square one, but we must learn from such misfortunes and convert them into inspiration.