Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Problem with Peer Pressure

I think that I am now in a position to solve all the problems of the world. Well, I won't be able to solve them, but I think I know the answer to all the problems in the world. Okay, maybe that is still to lofty a statement. I do believe that I have hit on something that, if dealt with in the lives of individuals, will help a lot of people. Peer Pressure.

That's it. That is the problem that is wrecking your life and mine. Peer pressure is the thing that is making the people around you intolerable. Peer pressure is the thing that, maybe more than anything else, is making you do things that you do not want to do. And you thought you were through with peer pressure when you hit your eighteenth birthday.

Humans were made to be in community. Even the bold and creative among us are at heart conformists. In fact, we not only are conformists by nature, but also by training. Our western educational system of grading and socialization teaches us to fit in. We are taught and then rewarded for coloring inside the lines, for drawing our letters and numbers the same way, and in some cases, for wearing the same clothes. We are trained to live with and expect peer pressure. Sometimes it is even comforting.

Since we are made to be in community settings, and since we are trained for the same thing, it becomes natural for us, no matter what our age, to try to fit in with what everyone else is doing. We are susceptible to peer pressure.

This is not a problem until we take this to it's logical conclusion. We want to fit in so badly that we lose track of ourselves, our own personality, beliefs or values. It is in exactly this sort of setting that we get the mob mentality. I may disagree with your plan to lynch someone, but I want to be a part of the group. I do not want to be ostracized. I do not like Hitler, but everyone else is going along...

Are those examples too extreme for you? What about your relationship to God? Is it possible that there are times when you think of yourself and your comfort before you think of God's will? Could it be that God wants you to grow and stretch in a certain area of your life, but you are worried that you might look like a religious fanatic?

You see, peer pressure never leaves. The concerns, the pressure to conform is always there. Each of us must decide for ourselves whether we will follow God, that is, follow what is right or follow the crowd.

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