Editorial July 25, 2022 ISSUE

Neutralizing the pressure to cause harm

Keith Wommack

“I just felt like something was pressuring me to do it,” John LaDue told his mother after his arrest in 2014. Fortunately, the 11th grader’s plot to carry out the worst school massacre in United States history was stopped before he could implement it. He agreed to receive treatment for a fixation on violence, completed a two-year jail term, and has lived a quiet and productive life since.

As this case and recent events illustrate, there’s a prevalent claim that not only can men and women feel a mental “pressure” to harm themselves and others, but so can kids and teens. What can help us all free ourselves from the influence of such malicious mental arm-twisting?

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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