With the world as our classroom and each of us a student, what lessons are we learning?The status quo often shifts from honesty and integrity to the systematic economic decay and moral bankrupting of our society.Unfortunately, the consequences of our actions are now only viewed as acceptable inconveniences, and that is only when the misdeeds are discovered.Mistakes are made and our social and economic environment has provided the diversion of excuses for making the wrong decisions sufferable.One of the greatest life lessons I adopted into my everyday work ethic came from my teacher and mentor in high school, who once told me, An excuse, no matter how valid a reason it might be, is stillan excuse.The path to ethical renewal starts with one step, one person.Learning how to think must be paramount to learning what to think, and each person must think independently.