THE COOLEST GANG IN TOWN!

Sunil James writes about how to tackle the problem of peer pressure.

ARE YOU COOL?

Do you consider yourself to be cool? As young people, we usually want to be thought of as ‘cooler’ than we actually are. It’s seriously ingrained in us that we have got to improve our social standing especially at school, and amongst friends. But why do we feel that we need to be ‘cooler’ than we actually are? I remember at one stage passionately hating one group of people because they were the “look at me, I am so good looking and I can dance and everybody thinks that I am great” kind of people (you know what I mean). I disliked them the most because, honestly, I wanted to be like them. I wanted to have a billion friends, and get those constant WhatsApp and text messages. I wanted to be invited to parties and for all the girls to like me and to be all over me. But, I never thought that I was cool. I was just normal(ish).

COPYING THEM

That’s when I realised that there was an easy solution. If I wanted to be like the popular guys, all I had to do was to act like them. So after a quick shopping trip for trendier clothes, a few tweaks to the way that I speak and look and after a few very carefully selected selfes – BOOM! I could be transformed into a new me. Then I could start hanging out with the “cool” gang, chatting and laughing with them, sharing jokes with them. If they swore, I would swear. When they went out I would go with them even if I had to lie to my parents about where we were going. I would soon become part of their gang.

PARTY INVITES

Then, I would be getting lots of messages from friends and party invites. There would be attention from both guys and girls and slowly I would become part of the crew. The only issue would be that when I was with the gang I would have to keep up the pretence. I couldn’t be the real me in front of them, because that would be embarrassing and they might not like the real me. After all that effort to be part of the gang, why would I risk throwing it all away?

NO LIMITS

As time went on, my cool gang might start to do things that they shouldn’t be doing like drinking and smoking. Once the rest of the gang was doing it, the dilemma would be, “Do I have to do it too?” When we are together, and everyone else is drinking and smoking and doing drugs, the pressure would be suddenly on me to join in. I wouldn’t want to be left out. Even though I hate the taste of alcohol, I drink it. I can’t stand the smell of smoke but I light up all the same. I know the dangers of taking drugs and I don’t want to but I try them for the sake of my social standing. Imagine the parties that I would be invited to. There would be girls, dancing, music, flashing lights, alcohol flowing freely, in fact there would be no limits. Although this is not really my scene, I would make sure that no one knew this, so I would put on my “I am a hard-man face” and mess about like everyone else. And all this just to appear cool.

THE REALITY

This is an over exaggerated version of what it means to be a young person today. I think we all try to be cool sometimes but we can lose our true self in the process. We can lose that loving relationship with our parents, and replace it with feelings of anger and bitterness. We want to be increasingly left alone because we don’t want our parents to judge us. We are frightened that we will be discovered as imposters when we try to make ourselves just like everyone else, instead of being content to just be and live as unique children of God.

THE COOLEST FRIEND

This is why St. Paul writes, “do not be conformed to this world.” He is saying that in following the crowd, we lose the identity that God has given us. In choosing to mould ourselves on others and not on Him, we will lose that cool uniqueness that Jesus gives us. Don’t you see that when Jesus died for you, He died for you personally? He called you by your name and knows you individually. He thinks that you are the “coolest person” on the planet. That is why He came down from Heaven to be with you, to walk with you, to speak to you and most of all to give up His own life for you.

HIS GANG

Jesus considered you to be so cool, that He became nothing so that you could become someone great. I have come to realise that no-one is as cool as Jesus. He truly is the “alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13) So if you want to be cool, follow Jesus and be part of His gang!