peer pressure
...munity committees. My brother, for instance, used to smoke and drink a lot, and my parents couldn’t do any thing about that. When he went to college, he changed. My Dien 2 family and I were surprised. Later we found out that he was involved in a group, a very good group that was called “Chien Dich Tinh Nguyen Mua He Xanh” in Vietnamese. This is a volunteer group which has gone to rural areas every summer to help the Vietnamese communities who are poor and less educated. My brother and his friends help them to repair their houses, and teach children who can’t afford school how to read and write in Vietnamese. The group is full of energy; they bring the energy wherever they go, and what they gain is love and thankfulness. My brother was influenced by the group, and he gradually quit his bad habits. “In the beginning, I just went for fun, but…” He said no more; however, I saw the happiness and pride in his eyes. You see. Peer pressure can be powerful in shaping positive behavior in people. Everything has two sides_ good and bad, positive and negative_ and peer pressure does too. People often see the bad side rather than the good one. They think of peer pressure as a bad term, and this idea is understandable. In fact, if a boy or a girl turns out badly, they immediately think it is because of peer pressure. “She’s bad because she’s playing with her bad friends,” my uncle said whenever he saw Thao, my high school classmate in Vietnam. She was seduced by a bad group of friends who loved playing more than studying. Everything they did was different. They dressed, talked, and acted differently. They were even involved in sexual activities when they were young. If someone didn’t do what the group did, they excluded them. Wanting to be a member of the group, Thao did everything such as smoking, drinking, and having sex. She was pregnant, but she didn’t know who the father was. She didn’t know what to do. Worrying and feeling regret, she finally talked to her parents. At first, the parents were Dien 3 very angry at her, but her trouble was also their fault because they didn’t pay much attention to their daughter. They wanted her to keep the baby and quit school. Thao, twenty years old, is a mother of a six-year-old boy now. Members of the group also got a lot of troubles. Some quit school. Others were in jail. I feel sorry for her and her group. They wasted their lives and upseted their parents who loved and cared about them. Everybody is influenced by peers. However, individuals keep an important role. Children often can’t avoid t...