The Greatest Teacher

John: Wanna talk about it?

Ava: No. Ava doesn’t make eye contact. She just stares ahead.

John: We all need to talk sometimes. Get things off our chest.

Ava: You won’t understand.

John: Try me.

Ava: No thanks.

John: Ava, in about 5 minutes we’ll be walking in to your Principal’s office and I’ll find out anyway. But I wanna hear it from you. What’s goin on? Ava sighs. She finds the courage -

Ava: I cheated. On a test, a big one. Before you say, “that’s not like me,” and “why would you do something like that,” just... listen. I knew 4 other people in the class that were cheating. This particular test wasn’t going to be graded, it was going to be ranked. A competition within the class. So by all of them cheating, the best I could hope to be ranked was 5th place. Out of 10! That’s like a 50%. I’m in high school now Dad. Grades really count. Colleges are watching. I couldn’t just throw away my future like that... I didn’t have a choice.

John: I understand.

Ava: You do?

John: But we always have a choice... And you were faced with a tough one.

Ava: So... you’re not mad?

John: Ava, listen to me. I’m gonna be proud of you no matter where you go to college. No matter what grades you get or what your job is... But I’m going to be proud of you because of who you are. And who you are is defined by what you do. The only way you’re gonna throw away your future is by not being true to you. Now, life is full of tough choices. The important thing is what you do when things get hard. That’s what defines you. You get to choose that part.

Ava: And I chose to do the wrong thing. I know, Dad. I’m sorry.

John: No, don’t be sorry. You made a mistake. We all make em. Mistakes are the greatest teacher in the world. They’re how we learn. If you make the same mistake twice, then you can be sorry. Okay? Ava smiles for the first time.

Ava: You always knew what to say to make me feel better. I don’t know why I didn’t think you still could.

John: We’re family. We’re always there for each other.

Ava: Even when times get tough.

John: Especially when times get tough. They smile at each other.