WAYS TO RESIST PEER PRESSURE
STAND YOUR GROUND
First Episcopal District Board of Christian Education
2023 Founder’s Day Essay Contest
1st Place Essay Winner – 8th Grade: Anaya Robinson, St. John AME Church
Rev. Alicia Bailey, Pastor – Brooklyn, New York
Teenagers are often conscious of the terror of not fitting in and being bullied by those who consider others weaker. I ask myself these questions: Why does it matter what other people think about you? Why does everyone want to fit in or “be down?” Why do people bully the ones they perceive to be weaker than they are? Why do bullies look to harm, intimidate, or coerce someone who is vulnerable? Then it clicked–hurt people, hurt people. Bullies feel low about themselves, so they must bring others down with them through insults, rumors, and fear. Bullies feel inadequate themselves, and they often function in a pack because they feel shielded in a like-minded clique.
In 1 Samuel 15:24, Saul followed the crowd, he could not stand on his own because he fell to peer pressure of rumors. I am not sure of Saul’s age in this verse, but peer pressure, cliques, and bullies are not specific to an age group. Yet, as many young people are developing the skills to handle challenging social issues, I take it as a personal challenge to find ways to help my peers combat this growing problem.
The past two years have been critical for children my age. We lost friends; well, I lost friends, but not due to gun violence or anything of that nature. I lost friends because of the pandemic, not being able to see my friends, go to school, play, talk, and just be children. It seems as if we grew up without each other, and returning to in-person social life seemed hard. The friends that I had known before the pandemic were all doing things I did not like. I always told my dad I was different. Proverbs 1:10 says ‘’My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” If my “friends” want to hang out after school and do things I know are not proper and I do not find amusing, I will not go with them. They may try to pressure me into conforming by talking about me or putting negative things about me in a group chat, and it may hurt my feelings, but I know I am my own person, walking in my own destiny. With a best friend like God, I cannot fall into peer pressure.
I asked my friend what she would do to combat peer pressure and bullying. Her reply was (1) Tell a trusted adult, (2) Ignore the bully, and (3) Do not put up with the nonsense; confront your bully. My thoughts exactly. My advice to my peers who might be experiencing their own “friends” trying to pressure them into trying things they are not comfortable doing is “DON’T!’’ Likewise, if people are spreading false stories about you and trying to make you feel less than you are, remember (1) God doesn’t make no junk, and (2) My child, if sinners entice you, (Isaiah 54:17)
My hope is that my peers all stand their ground against bullies and peer pressure. Stand in your beliefs, knowing that you are a child of God, and he has equipped you with an armor so thick that no false stories about you shall prosper. No bully will be able to phase you. No peer pressure can hinder you. (Ephesians 6:8-10 adaptation). My hope is that we will follow the words of Ephesians 6:14-17: 14 Stand, therefore, and belt [our] waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and lace up [our] sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 …take the shield of faith,…to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one[, and]. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
To my peers, not too many youths have that superpower of resilience, and it may get worse before it gets better do not give up, “[but] do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Mathew 6:34)
Stand Your Ground!
Bibliography
National Crime Prevention Council
Peer Pressure. National Crime Prevention Council. 2022. https://www.ncpc.org/
STOMP Out Bullying 2022. https://www.stompoutbullying.org/world-bullying-prevention-month
The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with The Apocrypha,
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003.
