If you are under enormous peer pressure to do the wrong thing, and are away from your regular support network, will you have the strength of will to still do the right thing? Or do you cave to the pressure?

I know that me personally, I believe I wouldn’t cave. But I have yet to actually be in that situation.

Is it because I don’t put myself there or is it because of pure chance and meeting good people instead?

Again, I believe its because I don’t put myself into situations like that.

It is our own responsibility to not put ourselves in situations where we won’t have the same willpower that we normally do. It is our personal responsiblity not to put ourselves in bad situations. Not to make bad choices and decisions in the first place.

Of course, this is all very easy to say in hindsight. But what if we don’t know how the situation will play out?

In that case, its important to weight the risks and the rewards of the two decisions. What do I have to lose and what do I have to gain? And in any form of gambling, you don’t play with more than you can afford to lose.

For some people, this is quite obvious. They have such a strong sense of ethics and sound judgment that they would never give in to pressure and temptation.

For others though, if the rewards are great enough and the risks low enough, they willl cave to the pressure. They will be unethical and give in to temptation.

I’ve gained a strong sense of ethics, mostly from my parents and several very embarrassing downfalls in my past.

And therein lies the trick. Some people can be taught ethics and good judgment simply by telling them about others’ mistakes. Others actually need to experience the pain, punishment and embarrassment of actually making a poor decision for themselves.

If you’re a parent, a mentor, or older sibling to someone, how do you teach them this lesson? How do you grow a strong personality, a strong sense of ethics and sound judgment?