"Whenever you make a decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." -Theodore Roosevelt. For everything you do in your life you will have to make a decision. Sometimes it is difficult to do what is right and people often get caught in the web of morality. As Theodore Roosevelt said, it's best to do the right thing, but what happens when right and wrong get all mixed up? This happens when people get confused and the wrong thing becomes right in their mind. This is an idea that appears in The Outsiders and Tom Sawyer quite often during the main character's progression through adolescence. Although a key concept in Tom Sawyer is how individuals often do the wrong thing for the right reason, this idea is best exemplified in The Outsiders when Ponyboy and Johnny go on the run from the law, Darry hits Ponyboy as punishment, and Cherry spies on the Socs. for the Greasers. An example of people doing the wrong thing for the right reasons in The Outsiders is when Cherry Valance spies on the Socs for the Greasers. After Johnny kills Bob, Cherry feels it was all her fault after spending the night talking to Ponyboy, so she offers to spy on the Socs for the plague spreaders as compensation. Cherry does it for the right reasons and out of the goodness of her heart, however spying is never the moral thing to do. “He said he felt the whole thing was his fault, and it was, and that he would follow what came out with the Socs in the fight and testify that the Socs were drunk and wanted to fight and that you fought back in self-defense.” - Dally (pg 76) Cherry felt so bad about what she had done that she betrayed the people...... middle of paper ......what Tom and Huck did was wrong because Muff Potter had to suffer for their decisions, Ponyboy and Johnny's situation was different because they acted in self defense and Ponyboy ran away to save his friend. Ultimately, all of the outsiders' decisions were made with good intentions in mind. Ponyboy ran away from the police to protect his best friend Johnny, Darry hit Ponyboy because he was trying to teach him a lesson and Cherry felt guilty about what she did so she helped the greasers by spying on the Socs. The situations in Tom Sawyer were bad choices in themselves, but then they are also made for the wrong reasons. As Roosevelt said: The best thing you can do is the right thing, but when you don't do the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing. And sometimes the wrong thing isn't that bad if you do it for the right reasons.