Peer Pressure
Jonah Ribera
English 1A
R. Myers I remember back in elementary school when I, like any other youngster, was the biggest advocate for the D.A.R.E. program and saying no to drugs. “Drugs are bad” or “I won’t every do drugs” is something that was instilled in every child’s mind from day one. At that point, I would have never imagined myself getting hammered at a party, smoking weed, or popping a pill other than aspirin. It’s absolutely amazing how peer pressure was almost non-existent when I was a kid, but as I grew up I started to realize that I’m constantly surrounded by it every single day. Instead of staying true to my youth, I eventually ended up giving in to the inevitable. I was halfway through my freshman year and I had yet to have any problems with peer pressure at all. Not a single person had offered me drugs yet or even asked me to go out to a party and drink with them. That all changed when I came home on a Friday night to my brother and a bunch of his friends consuming alcohol and acting obnoxious. There was an even ratio of about 15 guys to girls at my house and most of them were huddled around a huge silver can, which I later figured out was called a keg. Once my brother had seen me enter the garage where he was at, he and his friends instantly bombarded me. They knew I had never even taken a sip of alcohol before and therefore I was easily susceptible. Eventually, I ended up giving into the peer pressure and started drinking. I remember drinking around 4 beers and was instantly gone into a drunken state. Like most teens that drink for the first time, I ended up puking my brains out that night. The next morning I told myself that I would never drink again, but unfortunately that was a huge lie. I had only just begun to experience the outside world of sobriety. Soon enough, sophomore year came around and going to parties and getting wasted started becoming the norm. It seemed like every weekend we were wondering whose parents were going out of
English 1A
R. Myers I remember back in elementary school when I, like any other youngster, was the biggest advocate for the D.A.R.E. program and saying no to drugs. “Drugs are bad” or “I won’t every do drugs” is something that was instilled in every child’s mind from day one. At that point, I would have never imagined myself getting hammered at a party, smoking weed, or popping a pill other than aspirin. It’s absolutely amazing how peer pressure was almost non-existent when I was a kid, but as I grew up I started to realize that I’m constantly surrounded by it every single day. Instead of staying true to my youth, I eventually ended up giving in to the inevitable. I was halfway through my freshman year and I had yet to have any problems with peer pressure at all. Not a single person had offered me drugs yet or even asked me to go out to a party and drink with them. That all changed when I came home on a Friday night to my brother and a bunch of his friends consuming alcohol and acting obnoxious. There was an even ratio of about 15 guys to girls at my house and most of them were huddled around a huge silver can, which I later figured out was called a keg. Once my brother had seen me enter the garage where he was at, he and his friends instantly bombarded me. They knew I had never even taken a sip of alcohol before and therefore I was easily susceptible. Eventually, I ended up giving into the peer pressure and started drinking. I remember drinking around 4 beers and was instantly gone into a drunken state. Like most teens that drink for the first time, I ended up puking my brains out that night. The next morning I told myself that I would never drink again, but unfortunately that was a huge lie. I had only just begun to experience the outside world of sobriety. Soon enough, sophomore year came around and going to parties and getting wasted started becoming the norm. It seemed like every weekend we were wondering whose parents were going out of