By Kimani Wiseman
The education system is the foundation for socialization. The first time a child begins kindergarten, they would make friends and socialize with their peers. Socialization would carry that child through the rest of their school career and after graduating from school. From puberty, a child is vulnerable to “peer pressure”. Peer pressure is when you do something because you want to feel accepted and valued by your friends.
Some friends would influence us to be good role models in society while others might influence us to be bad role models in society. Misery loves company. Some friends would choose a wrong direction in life and because they have chosen a bad road in life, they would try to pressure you and suck you into doing wrong things that they are doing. For example, you might have friends who are involved in gangs and they would try to influence you to join their gang. Some gangs might have policies. They might tell you to kill someone or rob someone to prove to them that you can fit in to be branded a member of their gang. Some of your friends might also be drug addicts. These drug addiction friends would bombard you and say nice things such as mixing marijuana and cocaine would help you to pass your exams and make you feel high like a kite. A lot of the vagrants on the streets are there because they mix marijuana and cocaine and experimented with other drugs. If you want your sanity, keep away from drugs.
You might be going through some problems in life and you might have friends who are alcoholic and drinks strong rum for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The first solution they would recommend for your problems are strong rum. Having low self- esteem can cause a person to be more vulnerable to peer pressure. For example, you might not have enough confidence in yourself and feeling not valued or appreciated in life which can cause you to turn more towards your peers, increasing the chances of peer pressure. The focus on peer pressure is mainly on males. However, females are not left out of peer pressure. Some female friends would pressure you to dress half naked in the streets and influence you to sleep with different men for money. GAO once said in a soca song “when them young gal beg man money in ah town man ah beg them back for some honey”. Some female friends might envy you because you have a loving, kind hearted, handsome boyfriend or husband. Because they might not have a boyfriend or husband who is loving, kind hearted and handsome, they would try to pressure you to break up your relationship so you can be single like them. On the other hand, there are some good friends who would steer us in the right direction and if we are going down a bad road. They would keep us on the right track and motivate us when we feel like giving up at times. Surround yourself with these people. Birds of a feather flock together and you are known by the company you keep. Choose your friends wisely who can have a positive impact in your life and who can be good role models in society.
