As a kid, temptation could mean having the urge to tell someone a little white lie in order to avoid getting in trouble, lying to your friends in order to keep another person’s secrets under the radar, or telling someone a lie about someone else. It could also be tempting to tell your mom you did some kind of chore when, in reality, you forgot to do it.

How many of us, as kids, were out playing on the playground during recess, and all of a sudden, some kid wanted to start some sort of a fight with you — whether it was name-calling or a physical beatdown?

Some of us stood our ground and talked back, and maybe some of us actually did throw the first punch ending up in after-school detention or even getting a suspension for defending our honor. During that moment of actually giving the kid a piece of his or her own medicine, we had the good feeling of “I’m bigger and better than the person who talked smack or started to punch me first because I stood my ground.” But, after that moment of glory fades, we’re sitting in detention or being suspended, and we look back and think that it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do after all.

Temptation makes us believe that we have a right to do whatever we want, no matter what consequence may happen. It allows us to get completely lost in our own ego and suffer consequences — physically, emotionally and mentally. Spiritual pain, such as the feeling of guilt, tends to wash over us after we make the wrong choice.

As an adult, the temptation in your world gets more severe. In your college environment, there are all too many temptations around us. These temptations can include drinking before you are of legal age, trying drugs or steroids, lying about plagiarism, or cheating on a test. But it’s our choice whether to give in to those feelings or stay on the right path. We all have to remember that doing the wrong things can hurt others, as well as hurt our reputation and our future. It all depends on how we act and react. We have to choose to do the right thing in the face of temptation, — even though it can be a very difficult choice to make.

We are all tempted every day. As college students, every single one of us has been tempted many times over with wanting to skip classes. Then the even bigger temptation hits you once you skip one class. It becomes easier to continue missing other classes in order to have fun during college or just to relax. By the time you end up realizing that you failing the class, it could be too late to make it up during that semester, especially if finals are on top of you.

Don’t fall into the rut of skipping class too much and find yourself in a hole that you won’t be able to dog yourself out of. No one wants to skip class only to find out that they missed out on easy attendance points or a test that is worth 50 percent of their grade. Sometimes. No matter how hard you work in order to catch up to everyone else in a class, you might end up having to retake it while everyone else moves on to the next course in their major. It can be embarrassing and downright maddening when all your friends pass a class and you didn’t because you chose to skip it.

You will look back with regret and ask yourself countless questions of “Why? Why did I skip that class so many times? Why did I think I should skip it? How could I have missed that much stuff? How many classes did I actually skip? What should I have done differently? I could’ve been done with it by now! I could have been farther ahead by now. Instead of being farther along in my education, I’m behind in courses because of my foolish choice.”

When you have to retake a course, remember you can pass it the next time around. Don’t be too tempted to sulk in your own misery though, either. You can use your story of having to retake a class as a lesson to other students to not do the same thing that you did. They can learn from you and from your mistakes. You can tell them what they shouldn’t get comfortable doing. You can tell them that no matter how tempting it is to skip that class, it really isn’t worth it.

We all can resist that temptation of wanting to skip class, as hard as it may be, by remembering we are all here to get a great education and get good jobs after completing our degrees. Plus, the reality of it is if you skip class now, would you continue to skip class and end up having to retake a class or classes just because you skipped so many of them?

Don’t give in to the temptations that you face in college. Stand firm and choose to do the right thing. Do your best and forget the rest. Walk with your morals intact.