230. The ends justify the means

What is the meaning of "the ends justify the means?" I will illustrate. A father who is the sole breadwinner earns $3,000 a month. His daughter failed to get into the Singapore University due to not having straight As.

But she is accepted into an Australian University to pursue her dreams. The yearly cost of accommodation and tuition fees around $50,000. The mum does not work. So the source of income is around $36,000 from the father's earnings as an employee.

The company permitted the father to do outside work. He did manage to pay for the daughter's first year of overseas education through a stroke of luck. In the second year, Lady Luck enabled him to rent and sell a $3 million condo, thereby giving the daughter sufficient funds. But the timing was not right. So the father issued 2 cheques of $5,000 and $1,500 for an interest-free loan in cash. The cheques were dud ones as they could not be banked in. So, he got part of the money for his daughter. His "ends justify the means". Without the money, the daughter would be evicted from the course. Lady Luck had been kind to him again as no complaints to his company were made about his dud cheques. He repaid the monies 3 months later when the sales of the condo was completed. But there are two more years to go. Will Lady Luck still favour the brave father? Can he go round issuing dud checks to get money for his daughter and his own expenses? Is this an honest way to live? I don't think so. But there are such people using dud cheques to get the money. It is best not to lend any money to anybody.