There are things that really change your life. Sometimes they are situations that you can feel good about. Other times there are experiences that you would rather forget, but can't, because they impact your morale, the way you see things, and the way you do things. The impact is so huge, that you wouldn't want to go through it again.
I experienced the price one pays for plagiarizing another colleague's work in a class that I had. It was just taking the work of one of the members of my team for a paper I wrote. So my instructor brokered it down: my colleague will get the full points for the section in question, not me. It was really huge, because it was large margin of points that would change my eventual grade (which hasn't been decided yet). I was thankful that this was the course of action my instructor took; because it could have been worse. And it was never going to happen again. Never again. I wasn't going to be in a mood to have it happen again.
I went through a similar situation at my junior college. Of course, I passed that course with an 'A', but those circumstances were far different. This is stuff that happened at the university level, in my last semester. From this point on, I would be aware of the consequences that comes from asking my friends to do the work for me.
I suppose it was destiny to have something like this happen. It was a learning experience, as well as a life-changing experience. It was good for me. Experiences like that are supposed to be that way.
