“My son, if sinners entice you, do not give into them. If they say ‘come along with us; let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood, let’s waylay some harmless soul;” Proverbs 1:10-11

   What’s the big deal everybody’s doing it? This has been the mantra of the teenage years since the dawn of time (or at least since my mom was a teenager, but they’re probably pretty close to the same thing). It covers everything from skipping class to shoplifting to doing drugs and anything in between. It has caused a lot of pain in people’s lives and it needs to stop.

   First things first, it’s not true. Whatever IT is everybody isn’t doing it. It just seems like everybody is because the people who are doing it are talking about it more than the people not doing it. Which makes sense because it’s more fun to talk about things you are doing as opposed to things you aren’t doing.

   Second things second, who cares? Yeah, you heard me, who cares? I hate to sound like our parents (which I’ve been doing a lot of lately and quite frankly it scares me) but if everybody was jumping off a bridge would you do it too? This is a question to which the answer is, well maybe if they were attached to bungee cords because I’ve been meaning to try that.

   But let’s say for arguments sake there are no bungee cords. Of course you wouldn’t plummet to your death just because everybody else was, that would be dumb. Well it’s just as dumb to do other things just because people tell you to or just so you’ll seem cool.

   While all the things that everybody is doing might not end in death it could still seriously mess up your future. Think about the consequences of your actions for just a second before you do something just because everybody’s doing it. Skipping class leads to failing classes. Drinking leads to a hangover and that’s if you’re lucky. Smoking weed leads to fewer brain cells and really smelling bad. Shoplifting leads to a criminal record that follows you around like an annoying sibling. I could go on but I think you get the point

   God gave us this little thing called a moral compass. We all have them even if we don’t always use them. So why don’t you dust yours off and let it lead you in the right direction.

Jenna Pickle Editor-in-Chief