Michigan girl hospitalized after ‘fire challenge’ goes horribly wrong
A 12-year-old girl is recovering from severe burns after attempting the viral “fire challenge” popular on YouTube and social media.
Timiyah Landers of Detroit poured rubbing alcohol on herself and the lit it on fire, according to Fox 2 Detroit. She was rushed to the hospital, where she will require multiple surgeries after suffering burns on 49 percent of her body, the report said.
This may be an extreme example of peer pressure and kids doing foolish things just to be accepted. Incidents like this happen everyday, done by kids that need to feel part of the group and do not want to be ostracized.
http://www.safeteens.org/relationships/peer-pressure/
https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/peer-pressure.html
When I was growing up, in the old days, there was no such thing as peer pressure. The patches I had on the knees of my pants had patches on them. The same thing went for most of the kids in the neighborhood. So why would peer pressure exist? I didn’t want their patches, I had enough of my own.
There was no middle class. People were either poor or rich. Why would peer pressure be an issue when everyone we associated/hug around with had patches on their pants.
Here is the kicker. We never realized that we were not well off. We made fun out of everything we did. We made lemonade out of lemons (bad situations).
Today, if we see a person with patches on their knees, their mommy or daddy probably paid 150.00$ for them to look that bad.
Then the middle class began to surface.
American middle class
The American middle class is a social class in the United States.[1][2] While the concept is typically ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use,[3] contemporary social scientists have put forward several ostensibly congruent theories on the American middle class. Depending on the class model used, the middle class constitutes anywhere from 25% to 66% of households.
One of the first major studies of the middle class in America was White Collar: The American Middle Classes, published in 1951 by sociologist C. Wright Mills. Later sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert of Hamilton College commonly divide the middle class into two sub-groups. Constituting roughly 15% to 20% of households is the upper or professional middle class consisting of highly educated, salaried professionals and managers. Constituting roughly one third of households is the lower middle class consisting mostly of semi-professionals, skilled craftsmen and lower-level management.[2][4] Middle-class persons commonly have a comfortable standard of living, significant economic security, considerable work autonomy and rely on their expertise to sustain themselves.[5]
I ALWAYS instructed all of my students to be leaders not followers. Leaders are independent thinker, that are not easily swayed into making irrational, forced into making foolish decisions or go along with the crowd just to be accepted.
There are so many harmful avenues the younger people can go down these days that are detrimental to them. Drugs, booze, sex at a very young age, unprotected sex, different sorts of crimes; or even like this foolish young lady did, start herself on fire so she could be part of the group. She took an I DARE YOU – something a leader would not do.
It is not easy to say no when all the fools around you are saying yes or trying to coax you into doing something foolish, illegal or dangerous. It takes a strong person with a solid foundation to make it through the gauntlet of life.
They may be laughing at you today for being your own person, BUTT somewhere down the road, the leaders will be laughing at the followers.
BE A LEADER, NOT A FOLLOWER. Leaders are the people who are going to advance in their lives and come out on top; opposed to followers (the sheep of our society) are going to be fools all of their lives. They do not have backbone or intestinal fortitude to think for themselves, say no and do not capitulated just to one of the group.
We see a very good example of the in politics today. This hysteria that is going on is nothing but a joke, with all the sheep following the leader over the cliff.
No one can be a ridiculous as they are with some of their antics. They do what they do because they are too weak to form their own opinion based on the facts that are staring them right in the face. They are followers, not the leaders as they think they are.
EXAMPLE: What would ever make Cuomo to make the irrational statement that America was never great?? He is supposed to be one of the top contenders/leaders in the democratic party.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo says America ‘was never that great’ – CNN.com
5 days ago – Washington (CNN) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said America “was never that great” during a speech on Wednesday, drawing criticism from …
Believe it or not, Andy Boy is a followers not a leader as he thinks he is. Any leader with commonsense would NEVER make a crazy statement like that. His own PEERS thinks he is a fool. They are absolutely right.
Young people have to be taught from a very early age to be their own person and not just one of the flock. Stand out in the crowd and be respected. BUTT if the people who are doing the teaching or setting the examples are idiots, it is no wonder our kids are developing so poorly.
It is not always the case, BUTT in the 80% bracket. People are products of their environment and upbringing. If they are being raised by fools, they do not have much of a chance.
My prayers go out to Timiyah that she pulls through this, learns from her mistakes and that her foolishness serves an example to other kids not to be just a sheep in the flock of fools.
Always remember, misery loves company.
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