Don’t Follow The Crowd

I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

“Who’s that?” two girls whispered as the new girl walked into school.

“I don’t know,” the other girl replied. “But her hair looks weird.”

Maria frowned, listening to the unkind comments. “Hi, I’m Maria,” she said, approaching the new girl. “Don’t worry about those girls, they’re not very nice to anyone.”

“Thanks.” The girl smiled shyly. “I’m Anna.”

Anna had just transferred from another school in a neighboring town. For whatever reason, the popular girls at school decided they didn’t like her. She was a nice girl, but still every day they bullied her—teasing her about her looks, her body, or her clothes. It was awful.

As the school year went on, things got worse as other students in that grade joined in. Their strength was in their numbers. No one in the student body challenged anyone in this large group of girls to stop. So they didn’t. Sometimes even Maria felt pressured to make fun of Anna, but she knew that wouldn’t be loving—so she tried to stand up for Anna instead. But even with the support of Maria, not much changed.

Many times adults at the school attempted to put a stop to the bullying, but it would only help for a few weeks before kids would start being mean again. About halfway through the year, Anna decided to transfer back to her old school. Maria was sad to see her new friend go but hoped she’d find a different school easier.

The kind of group bullying that happened with Anna is a reminder that we can all fall into a group mindset—for good or for evil. We can be swayed by the people around us. But we are called to love each other as this will prove to the watching world that we are Jesus’ disciples. When we see a group being unkind to someone, we can choose to join them or we can do the right thing and choose to stand up for the person being bullied. We do not have to follow the crowd, especially when they aren’t following the ways of Jesus.

Things to Think About

• When have you seen a group of people do something together—whether for good (to help or encourage others) or for evil (to bully or hurt others)?
• When a group is bullying someone, how can you choose to not follow the crowd and instead show other girls the love of Jesus?

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

Choose to be kind to someone who often gets picked on.