Friends and Peers Can Be a Positive Influence

The influence of friends or peers need not be negative. Read the following anecdote:
“In a cemetery a little white stone marked the grave of a small girl. On the stone was chiseled these words: ‘A child of whom her playmates said, “It was easier to be good when she was with us” ’ ” (File Favorites, comp. Albert Zobell, Jr. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], p. 62).
Elder Hales gave a simple and meaningful definition of a friend: “What is the definition of a friend? Friends are people who make it easier to live the gospel of Jesus Christ” (Robert D. Hales, “This Is the Way; and There Is None Other Way,” in Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year, 1981–82, p. 67).
Read Elder Marvin J. Ashton’s definition of a friend: “A friend in the true sense is not a person who passively nods approval of our conduct or ignores improper behavior. A friend is a person who cares” (Marvin J. Ashton, “It’s No Fun Being Poor,” Ensign, Sept. 1982, p. 73).
It takes courage to be a friend, especially when others are going in the wrong direction. Sometimes youth, even at church, are unkind to each other, especially those not in their immediate group. Some become hurt when they are excluded because they do not belong to the Church. We all need to be true friends—kind to all—particularly to any who feel they don’t belong, to those who are thoughtlessly excluded, and to those who are not members of the Church.