I ran into a 19 YO yesterday that I had coached in Little League, and taught for a few years in Sunday School. He was a dingy pitcher, kind of lazy and his senior year, he decided baseball was too much work, it interfered with a desired snowboarding trip, and he wanted to "do his thing" with his friends, so he quit all sports. He graduated high school, didn't last two months in college, came back home, got a labor-type job, wouldn't listen to his parents or obey their rules, so went to live with a relative. Biggest issue was running with the wrong crowd, getting into bad things, you get the drift.
Yesterday he needed a haircut and a shave, was smoking, and was down in the dumps because local law enforcement folks gave him two choices-cooperate and tell us about what your buds are doing, or be indicted as a co-conspirator. Being present is enough to get you arrested. He protests that he hasn't done anything illegal, but admitted to me he had watched his friends "do stuff". He told his dad recently he wished he could go back a couple years and start over. My advice to him was the same as it was 3 years ago-do what only you can decide to do-get away from that crowd and clean up your act.
Reason for posting all this: as I told my guy yesterday, nothing good ever comes from running with the wrong crowd; even if you don't do illegal activity, if you're around it, you will get drawn in, one way or another. I have warned some parents in recent years that I noticed their kids were with a not so desirable bunch, and frequently the response has been "Thanks but he's okay, he doesn't do those things".
Absolute truth: stay in a bad crowd, and eventually you are one of them.
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