Article March 17, 1997 Issue

Thinking for ourselves

Beverly Goldsmith

Recently on television, a teenage boy told why he and his friends went "train surfing"—riding outside on the roof of a speeding train—and a girl told why she and her friends attended "rave" parties where they took a drug called ecstasy. When asked why they put their lives at risk by doing these things, both said they wanted to have fun, to have friends, and to be part of the crowd. It was exciting to do something dangerous, they said, and "everyone was doing it."

Listening to their comments, you could see that they were not thinking clearly for themselves. Every day we have to make choices. Some choices may seem small or unimportant—will we wear our hair a certain way because our friends are wearing theirs in a similar style? Other choices are serious—will we bully someone because our friends have bribed us to do it? Will we smoke or drink because it's the cool thing?

Every time we are asked to make a choice, we need to do one thing—to think for ourselves. Before we make a decision, we can stop for a moment and remember that we don't necessarily have to follow the crowd. We don't have to let our friends tell us what to do. We can stand up for what we know is right for us.

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