First Person:
When the Pressure Is On

by Stephanie Christensen

I’m 17-years-old and have been a member of the Church since I was eight. Living the gospel has never really been a problem for me until just the other day, when I had an unforgettable experience with a boy named Craig.

There’s a certain group of guys in our school who are rude to just about everybody. You know the type—every school has them. One day in algebra class, they decided to be especially rude to Craig, who sits right next to me. Craig is quiet, and he’s not the smartest guy in the class, so these guys loved to make fun of him. One day they decided to pass the word around that everybody in class was to ignore Craig. I usually helped him with the problems he didn’t understand, so when I heard their plan, I didn’t know what to do.

The bad joke began when class did. The teacher passed out rulers, and Craig’s happened to drop on the floor under the desk behind him. The girl who sat there just ignored him when Craig asked her to pick it up for him, and the rest of the class giggled and snickered. Craig just figured she hadn’t heard him, so he picked the ruler up himself.

I was glad that the rest of the hour went by quietly. But just a few minutes before class let out, Craig leaned over and asked me how to do a certain problem. Every person in the room turned to see how I’d handle it. My heart started pounding, and my palms became moist. I wanted to do the kind thing by answering him, but I could just feel the pressure mounting as all my classmates waited for me to snub him.

I felt my face getting hot and I knew it was red as I turned to Craig and explained how to do the problem. That was it. As soon as class was out, the guys started calling me names and really letting me have it. I couldn’t believe we were in high school. It felt like first grade, and I wanted to cry. But deep down inside I knew I’d done the right thing.

The next day I dreaded going back to my algebra class. But when I got there, the same boys met me and told me they wanted to try the same trick again and begged me to go along with it. By that time though, I knew that what I’d done the day before was right, and there was no way I was going to play their game.

When I told them so, I got the surprise of my life. My best friend, who sat nearby, told them she wasn’t going to cooperate with them either. Several other people joined us, and soon just about everyone in the class decided their plan was childish and stupid. Before the end of the class, everyone was talking to Craig, and even the boys who had started the whole thing were discussing some of the problems with him.

From all this I learned that being a good example is not quite as easy as it seems, but one person can make a big difference. If you have enough courage and enough faith, you can influence a whole group when the pressure’s on.

Photography by Welden Andersen