Mariama McGhee
Sophomore
UPREP High School
Let’s continue our discussion on peer pressure. It’s a force that makes us feel shaky and out of character. It makes our friends force us to do things their way. We don’t want to, but we do it anyway, all for the sake of a self-centered person, who does nothing in return.
How do we solve this problem? It’s simple. We walk away from it all. To be honest, there are other ways too. For example, when your friends’ demands can endanger others or damage some one’s self-esteem, you can get advice from a neutral person or an adult ally or reason with them so they won’t hurt anybody.
I remember a time when I saw a senior pressuring a female freshman to have sex with him. When he asked her, she was silent for a moment. The girl was unsure if she wanted to do this act. “I don’t know what to say”, she replied, genuinely embarrassed. “Just this once, please do it for me”, the senior said with an impatient voice.
That incident was stuck in my mind for the entire school year. I was angry that the senior would dare ask such a question to her. This is how uncontrollable some of us are. We don’t even feel that we have a choice in the matter. What’s worse, our friends just sit back and watch. Well, I won’t.
We can not allow people to control our lives. I learned from my mistakes and because of that, I am more assertive, because I am a member of the NSO/Youth Initiatives Project. It’s a program that teaches leadership and conflict resolution skills to prevent violence and drug use. While in the program, you actually get a better understanding on why kids feel so insecure and why they pressure their friends. In the end, you will be ready to face the world.
How do we solve this problem? It’s simple. We walk away from it all. To be honest, there are other ways too. For example, when your friends’ demands can endanger others or damage some one’s self-esteem, you can get advice from a neutral person or an adult ally or reason with them so they won’t hurt anybody.
I remember a time when I saw a senior pressuring a female freshman to have sex with him. When he asked her, she was silent for a moment. The girl was unsure if she wanted to do this act. “I don’t know what to say”, she replied, genuinely embarrassed. “Just this once, please do it for me”, the senior said with an impatient voice.
That incident was stuck in my mind for the entire school year. I was angry that the senior would dare ask such a question to her. This is how uncontrollable some of us are. We don’t even feel that we have a choice in the matter. What’s worse, our friends just sit back and watch. Well, I won’t.
We can not allow people to control our lives. I learned from my mistakes and because of that, I am more assertive, because I am a member of the NSO/Youth Initiatives Project. It’s a program that teaches leadership and conflict resolution skills to prevent violence and drug use. While in the program, you actually get a better understanding on why kids feel so insecure and why they pressure their friends. In the end, you will be ready to face the world.
2 comments:
I'm proud of you!!
Dad
Personally, peer pressure is one of the biggest down falls for students. Its not that easy to just walk away. This is where your pride comes in. Most kids do whatever it is, because they don't want to be teased for not doing whatever. But if they do it, then everything is good and they don't have to worry about anything.
But what they don't know is that it's going to keep coming back. They will be pressured into doing more and more things. No matter how big or small these things are. Peer pressure isn't something you can just point out. Most of the time you don't even know you are being pressured or pressuring someone.
Somethings you can do to avoid being pressured is do the opposite if you know that it is wrong. Also you can walk away. I know I said that its not always easy to just walk away, but if you know right from wrong, then it should be easy. You can't live your life going off of what others tell you. You also can't go off what others will think of you.
Post a Comment