To Cheat or Not to Cheat

Dear Dr. Sadie,

I am a contestant in beauty pageants. I am really good, and I am starting to go to some very prestigious ones. I may even end up in Ms. America or Ms. Universe or another of the "big time" pageants pretty soon.

As I move into more and more high profile pageants, I have noticed that almost all of the other girls cheat. They do lots of little things that are against the rules, but no one seems to catch them. The judges don't even check. I was brought up to believe that cheaters never win and winners never cheat, but I'd hate to lose out on my lifelong dream due to someone else's unfair advantage. What should I do, Dr. Sadie? Cheat? Turn them in? Do nothing and hope that my natural beauty and talent shines through? Please help.

- Beauty Queen (almost)

Maybe you should tell the other girls, "if you cheat, I will tell the judges that you are cheating." If you do that, the cheating girls will all run away. Then you'll be all by yourself with the judges, and you will win the contest.

You could also tell the other girls not to cheat. You could say, "could you PLEASE not cheat anymore." Then they all say "OK," and they would stop cheating.

They might laugh at you, but at least you would stop them from being cheaters.