Peer Pressure

When I was a youngster, the terminology ‘peer pressure,’ was the newest child rearing catch phrase and was being bandied about by parents and teachers alike as if it were some newly discovered childhood malaise plaguing my age bracket.

“Such and such is suffering from peer pressure…”

“Ah hear she was influenced by peer pressure..”

“The pressure was too great for him to resist…”

Whispered in hushed tones in teacher’s lounges and tossed over fences between gossiping moms like a verbal hand grenade, at first I did not know what it meant but whatever it was it was bad and I did not want to catch it! Truly, PP loomed large over all of us and it really seemed as if the most advisable course of action was to avoid it altogether.

So my story continues and a couple of days ago, I rush into the neighborhood market to get one item and there, is an open container of unhusked corn on the cob at a bargain price awaiting selection, parceling and transportation to the pot of choice. But what’s this? Everyone is husking their corn on the spot and tossing the remaining trash into a provided bin. I don’t have enough time to husk I’m just running in and out to get one item. What will I do? Will they think I’m lazy for not husking? How will I throw four corns in a bag and just go? What will they think of me? Cho!! I don’t even know them, I don’t care! Then I realize that with this single act I could redeem my entire age group!!

I steel my nerves and inch towards the container to make my selection all the time building up my resolve to not bow to the beast PP, rearing its ugly head. I make my selection and proceed to bag the corn without picking them. All around me faces drop and eyebrows rise!! Folks glare disbelievingly at me and the four unpicked corns in my plastic bag. Did I see those two women snicker condescendingly to themselves?

“Well, if you leave them in the flesh they’re easier to microwave,” I hear myself mumbling to no particular person, attempting to justify my husking indiscretion as I shuffle away from the scene of the crime while fixating my shame-faced gaze on the ground. I quickly retreat to the checkout stand, leaving PP behind, feeling stronger still for sticking to my resolve. As I reemerge into the sunlight of the store parking lot I realize that I just stared down peer pressure and won. I did not husk my corn, scoring not just for me but for my whole generation… whoppee!!! Somewhere across the ocean, the unified parential unit of Jamaica, breathe a sigh of relief.