Talha was doing his homework, but a thought was troubling him, making it hard for him to focus. To find a proper answer, he decided to ask his grandfather.

Talha ran to his room and said, “Dada, today our teacher made us read a chapter from our textbook. It was amazing and interesting, but the moral of the story was ‘once a cheater, always a cheater’.”

Grandfather smiled and said, “Oh! That’s an interesting moral.”

Talha continued, “Yes, Dada, but I was wondering, how can someone always be a cheater if he did it only once?”

“Oh, okay,” his grandfather replied. “Let me tell you a story and I think then you’ll understand this saying more clearly.”

Talha became excited and his grandpa began the story.

“When I was in school, I had a classmate who wasn’t good at studies. He could never pass the class tests, but somehow always got good marks in the finals. This went on until one day, he was caught by our teacher for bringing cheat papers into the examination room. He was about to be suspended, but after apologising and begging for another chance, the principal decided to forgive him.

“Days passed and soon it was time for tests and then the finals again. During one of the exams, I noticed him taking out a tiny chit of paper from his pen cap. His way of cheating was quite clever; he could copy whatever the person beside or in front of him was writing without getting caught. I was shocked to see him still cheating, even after being given his last chance.

“It became unbearable for me, so on the last day of school, I asked him, ‘Didn’t your parents say anything when you were caught cheating or passing exams without studying?’”

“His reply stunned me. He said, ‘My parents just want to see me pass. They don’t care how I do it.’

“Many years later, I met him on the road. I was driving and following all the traffic rules when a traffic policeman gestured for me to stop. I pulled over, a bit confused, as I hadn’t broken any rules. The officer came over and started telling me about the violations I had supposedly made. As I looked at him closely, his face seemed oddly familiar. Just as I was trying to recall where I had seen him before, he asked me for money.

“That’s when it clicked. He was the same boy from my school! I smiled, a bit uncomfortable, and reminded him who I was. We talked briefly about our school days. But deep down, I realised something painful: he was still cheating, only this time under the name of a prestigious force, committing a much bigger wrong,” grandfather concluded.

Talha said, “So even today, he’s cheating our country while being in the police force?”

Grandfather sighed and replied, “Yes, sadly. I hope you now understand my point.

A person isn’t born a cheater, but when they keep doing it again and again, without being corrected, especially by their parents, they eventually become one.”

Talha nodded and said, “Now I understand. It’s true that once a person cheats without any consequences, they can end up becoming a proud cheater.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 6th, 2025