Chiaki Punishment? Yesterday, I found out a good friend of mine plagerised a paper I wrote, and my grade was dropped down because of it. Since it was only a B for a quarter grade I let it all go. But today, I had a exceptionally hard day. People mocked me all day long and I almost got beaten to a pulp in one of my classes. Afterwards people kept spitballing me to the bitter end. Some of my friends told me to just take a deep breath, but I just can't since I've been putting up with it for as long as I can remember. So I decided to stop doing what I do, I decided to stop helping people so readily and be so nice. People always take advantage of me and I usually didn't mind, but now that all these people I've helped do nothing to pay me back except for a very few number of people. So I have stopped tutoring and helping out classmates. I won't help them out when they come with their tail between their legs. All because they don't do much for me. Is that a sound thing to do? Mahoro I'm glad that you help your fellow classmates... Mahoro But it's bad if your idea of helping them is cheating! Mahoro Helping them by tutoring is a good thing... Mahoro But if they keep stepping all over you and don't appreciate what you do, you should really stand up for yourself and let them teach themselves! Mahoro Part of growing up is learning to be honest with yourself as well as being able to figure out where you fit into the rest of the world. It's great that you want to help people but you should only do so if you can handle it. Being a good person doesn't always mean it's the fairest situation. Instead of helping those who don't appreciate it, you should start 'choosing your battles' and decide to help those who will. Try to find some kind of formal tutoring program where you can volunteer your time to tutor people for the school. If that's not possible, talk to a teacher and see if there's any way you can be a teacher aide or helper. Mahoro I find it very respectable that you try to help those who would step on you and make your life harder. It takes a strong person to do that. Mahoro But ultimately, cheating is bad. There are other ways to help people! Mahoro Find the strength in yourself to do what's right... both for everyone else and for yourself. Keep in mind, though, if you're not helping yourself, you can't help others. Good luck! Chiaki That does make sense. Thanks, you helped a lot