Why did an incident with a friend in middle school teach me true integrity and how to admit wrongdoing?

Through an incident with a friend in middle school, I learned the importance of admitting wrongdoing and how to be loyal, which made me more confident and upright in life.

 

In middle school, I had a very close friend, someone I walked to and from school with and did most of my school activities with. My parents were also close, so I knew a lot about her situation. She had been living with her mother since her parents divorced, and I didn’t want to embarrass her, so I pretended not to know. One day, a situation happened that made me look bad.
As usual, my friend and I were heading home after school. There was a car parked on the sidewalk, blocking the path, and a bike parked behind it, making the sidewalk very narrow. So I was trying to pass carefully, but suddenly a car honked its horn, startled me, and I accidentally touched the bike, which fell over and scratched the car. Then the owner of the car came out and yelled at me and told me to take responsibility. I was scared for a moment and couldn’t say anything, so I stayed still and let my friend speak for me. To be honest, I touched the bike, and when my friend passed by, the bike fell over, and I knew it, but I kept still. As scary as the situation was, I was more afraid of how I would tell my parents, so my friend took the blame and gave me their phone number. When the owner of the car asked for her father’s number, my friend looked confused and told me that her father didn’t have a cell phone, so she gave me her mother’s number. As we were driving home, my friend told me that her father was out of town working, so she gave me her mother’s number. I already knew my friend’s situation, but I just laughed it off.
Suddenly, I felt embarrassed. I felt so sorry that my cowardly behavior had caused my friend to be embarrassed and exposed his shame. Moreover, my parents emphasized loyalty, so I vowed to be a loyal person from a young age. But when I found myself in an embarrassing situation, I felt so pathetic that I couldn’t help my friend and was only looking for a way to live alone. I was so disappointed in myself that even now I feel like an ugly person.
This made me reflect a lot. And I learned one thing. I learned to admit my mistakes. The reason I was so scared and didn’t say anything when I scratched the car with my bike was because I was afraid my parents would scold me. I grew up in a house where my parents were rarely scolded, so I think I was obsessive about not letting them down and strived to live a perfect life. But when I told my parents after it happened, they were more upset with me for being disrespectful than for scratching the car. They taught me that everyone makes mistakes, but the important thing is to admit them.
From then on, when I made a mistake, I didn’t try to hide it, but admitted it and faced the consequences. I think this has helped me to maintain integrity among my friends. When I was punished, instead of trying to find a way to survive alone, I took the punishment with me and actually cared more about my friends. I was very ashamed at the time and still am now, but it made me live a more dignified life.