I’m not in this world to live up to your expectation and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.
-Bruce Lee
“If all of your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you do it too?” For the ones on the receiving end of this question, they would shrug their shoulders and answer with the obvious “no.” Depending on the situation, they might say that the question did not pertain to the situation regarding their friends.
But, no matter how you try to justify it, the situation might be similar to jumping off a bridge with your friends. Maybe not as drastic as that, but how many times have we been in a bad situation with our friends that deep down, we didn’t agree with? How many times did we follow them in the name of friendship? Most of us probably did this at one point in time.
In the long run, however, we would only hurt ourselves if we kept blindly following our friends in a bad situation. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s great to have friends and associates that you can talk to and hang out with. But if they try to get you to follow them into a bad situation like committing a crime or slandering someone that you didn’t know, do not be afraid to tell them “No, I’m not doing that.” One of two things will happen; either they’ll respect your decision and continue to be your friend or you will find out that they weren’t really your friends in the first place.
A Better Tomorrow 