Herbert Albright Americanism Essay Contest
Essay Contest winners present at the Celebration are, from left, Shanele Bobek, Nicole Korn, Daniel Tarkakovsky, Natalia DaSilva, and Cristina Taylor.
The essay contest, open to all public and private school students on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, is named in honor of the late Herbert Albright in recognition of his many contributions to local and civic organizations. This year’s essay contest theme was based on the example of this year’s Heritage of Freedom honoree, the iconic Hall of Fame baseball manager Tommy Lasorda who was honored with the Kenneth T. Norris Heritage of Freedom Award, and was the guest speaker at this year’s 49th Annual Palos Verdes Independence Day Celebration on the grounds of Malaga Cove School. Students were asked to discuss why an athlete’s decision, given the freedom to choose one path or the other, should always lead to the inescapable conclusion that cheating is the wrong way to go.
A Simple Discussion
by Jonathan Hamer
12th Grade, PV Peninsula High School- 1st Place Winner
Starting from the first time a child walks into a store he is left with a decision to steal or to save his or her allowance to buy. These decisions come up many times everyday, to cheat or to do what is right. Many people choose the path of righteousness. However, there are some people who choose to cheat. Even though cheating holds its short term benefits the overall outcome will always lead to a loss of integrity and will end up costing more than what was gained in the action. From sports stars that cheat to businessmen who lie, the outcome is as predictable as their actions are dishonorable.
In 2007 Bill Belichick, the coach for the New England Patriots was caught spying on the New York Jets. This action cost him both his dignity and a $500,000 fine. The courts ruled that he had to pay the half million dollar fee and his team pay an additional $250,000 fee, as well as forfeit their first choice for the 2008 draft. Once a role model and honorary coach, Bill Belichick has cost his team their draft choice and a large some of money. It is clear that more was lost than gained in his attempt to gain an unfair advantage.
Starting as a penny stock trader and working as a lifeguard, Bernard Madoff was the typical entrepreneur. He worked his way up to a chairman of the NASDAQ. However on December 11, 2008 it was found that his success was only superficial, when he stated that his investments were based on nothing more than a ponzi scheme. He cost his investors over twelve billion dollars in what is now known to be the largest ponzi scheme in history. The judge sentenced Madoff to 150 years in federal prison. At one point Madoff was considered a great businessman but now he will always be remembered as a con artist.
Everyone comes to this fork in the road, the way of lies and the way of honesty. To the ones who are honest anything is possible, and to the ones that cheat the outcome is always the same. In the case of Belichick and Madoff it is clear that cheating is not the answer, the benefits will never out weigh the consequences. When faced with these decisions one must ask, how much is my integrity worth to me?
2nd Place Winner: Nicole Korn, 11th Grade, Palos Verdes High School
3re Place Winner Haley Rosen, 11th Grade Palos Verdes High School
Unworthy of Happiness
by Daniel Tartakovsky
9th Grade, PV Peninsula High School 1st Place Winner
“Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we should make ourselves happy, but how we should become worthy of Happiness.” Cheaters fail to uphold Immanuel Kant’s famous maxima. This topic is an important one but the wording of the question reminds me of a false premise that it stems from: the notion that athletes are expected to be more than just entertainers, more than just physically exceptional in their sport. When we elevate athletes to role models whose profession is more than just competitive athletics, we inadvertently reinforce a false sense of being above the law. Fans begin to believe that athletes are more than simply human, and, later, when an athlete fails as a role model, his personal decisions veer off course and end up magnified and distorted by the voyeuristic lens of media glare, reminding adoring fans that athletes are actually just – athletes.
“Rightness” is truly an individual concept; when faced with the choice to cheat or not, an athlete should look within to find the moral answer. His decision should rely solely on what fulfills his innate obligation. He has to be honest with himself. Only than will he be worthy of true inner happiness.
Lance Armstrong’s former teammate, Matt White, has recently found himself in a scandal involving alleged doping and potential charges of conspiracy and fraud. Armstrong himself has now been implicated. This not only shows the manner in which cheating spreads, undermining the sport, but also how it fails to uphold a healthy, moral conscience derived from honesty.
Honesty’s role in everyday interactions must take precedence over a reason not to cheat that is tied to athletics. Only than can an athlete – or, more accurately, a human being – genuinely choose the correct path. Cheating breeds resentment and discord, the antitheses to fans and even humans as a collective body. It violates the moral duty to be honest that our conscience should shed light upon.
Athletes can choose whether to compete or to cheat. Fortunately, although some choose the latter, the decision made by Tommy Lasorda and most others answers Kant’s higher calling – the calling to be human, to be moral, and to deserve inner happiness.
2nd Place Winner: Shanelle Bobek, 9th Grade PV Peninsula High School
3rd Place Winner: Natalila DaSilva, 9th Grade, Palos Verdes High School
The Corrupt Practice of Cheating
By Christina Taylor
7th Grade, PV Intermediate School 1st Place Winner
Sports figures are looked up to and admired world-wide by many. When walking into a magazine shop or reading the news, how many times is the name of an athletic figure mentioned? Presently, athletes are not only competitors, but cultural figures. Their every action is monitored admired and in some cases, disapproved of. The general public is looking up to these sports stars as role models. Ideally, a role model is someone who makes the right decisions and possesses an admirable personality and traits. So what happens to our society if the athletes we look up to make the wrong decisions and don’t possess ideal traits? An example of these wrong decisions is cheating. An athlete, in order to keep his or her individual honor, as well as all of their competitors’, should never cheat, even if it means losing a few games.
Cheating is often a way to attempt to gain honor and pride, and make yourself feel good about your performance on the field or court. Once at one of my soccer games, I heard a player on the opposing team say to one of her teammates that she was going to take a fall so she could get a penalty shot. Sure enough, she faked a fall towards the end of the game, and the referee gave her a penalty kick. The ball made it into the goal and her team won. It must have felt good in the moment to win the game and be responsible for the glory of that win. Although she might have felt proud then, I can’t help but wonder what she was feeling upon reflection of that game. Was that the right thing to do? Where is the honor in cheating? In a way, cheating is a tool that is used if you feel that you can’t win if you play fair like everybody else. Winning isn’t everything, so why use cheating? It is unnecessary and corrupt.
Overall, cheating is a bad practice that should never be used under any circumstances. If someone feels that they need to cheat in order to succeed at something, in this case a sport, then they should practice. Improving skills builds honor and confidence, which are two things that are key to being an admirable athlete, and role model.
2nd Place Winner: Sarah Sharp, 8th Grade, PV Intermediate School
3rd Place Winner: Julea Chin, 7th Grade, PV Intermediate School PEN