Derech Eretz Corner: What Would You Have Done?

“When the crowd turns left, but your heart knows right,

Stand tall in the shadows, be your own light.

No cheer, no praise, just quiet might.

Doing what's right when it's out of sight.”

Once upon a time, as a teacher was just about to give a test to a class., she was called to the office for something important. While she was gone, some girls in the class decided to take a sneak peek of the test questions on the teacher’s desk.

One girl in the class felt like she had to stop them, but wasn’t sure how. Her friends were taking advantage of the teacher’s absence to cheat!

She got out of her seat, went up to the desk, and sat on the test papers on the teacher’s desk.

She stayed there “protecting” the tests until the teacher came back. The teacher was appalled at the chutzpah of the girl sitting on the teachers desk!!! She told her to stay in from recess and write some lines regarding proper behavior.

The girl did not want to get her friends in trouble. She stayed in from recess, wrote the lines and didn’t snitch on her friends, but went home very upset.

When she told her parents what happened, they wrote a note to the teacher, apologizing

for the apparent misbehavior, and explaining why their daughter had sat on the desk. They explained to their daughter that the teacher could only act on the evidence she was presented with, and had to let the class know that there were consequences for misbehavior.

They agreed that the only wrong done was by the classmates trying to cheat. Sometimes life doesn’t seem fair, but we have no guarantee regarding the behavior of humans. Our only guarantee is that Hashem sees what we do and will judge us accordingly.

“No need for a stage, no need to trumpet or sing,

Real strength is found in a truthful thing.

So walk that line, though you're the only one,

Because the right thing's right, even when it's no fun.”