Father-son bonding: Bank-robbing Style

      This past week in local news, a father-and-son team of bankrobbers was given their sentence for attempting to break into a local bank to establish a family bond system. Apparently, Clifford Durham, the father involved in this crime, had pressured son Deangelo Jackson into participating in the attempted robbery. The duo was sentenced to many years in jail- facing charges for  attempted bank robbery, armed commercial robbery, and using and carrying firearms during crimes of violence.
     The sad part of this story is that Durham had been involved in numerous previous crimes- in fact, he had just been released from a sentence that was extended because he was caught smuggling items in prison. Durham was lucky enough to persuade his son, who merely wanted to "have his father accept him", into assisting him in his plan. Jackson, while pleading guilty,  exposed that after continually rejecting his father's request, Durham stopped answering phone calls and text messages. Desperate for his father's approval, Jackson gave his dad the A-ok. The two were then arrested and put into separate confinements, probably never to see each other again.
     Local crimes like this that possess such strange yet meaningful backgrounds are fascinating. To think that this young man would risk robbing a bank to get his own father's "approval in life" (whatever that means), shows a quality of perseverance and determination. However, this was clearly too far. This is yet another example of peer pressure and how one can be influenced to do things that they may not necessarily be comfortable doing.
      Jackson's attitude about robbing the bank is completely relatable. Take away the "robbing the bank" part and replace it with drinking. Someone may drink to 'meet the expectations' per-say of their friends, or someone they are trying to impress. This old cliche becomes monotonous and frankly, I think I've heard it more than anything else." DONT FALL INTO PEER PRESSURE". Literally, I've been hearing that since 6th grade. But it is so easy to fall into this habit, and clearly (cough cough Jackson), it can be taken to extremes. 
    My question from this article and why it interested me so much is that it makes me wonder how far people will go to meet an 'expectation' that isn't even there to meet. Who knows if Jackson's father would have finally accepted him if the robbery had been successful- he may have just gone back to his old ways after using his son for the extra help.
     I think the main point of what I am trying to say is that sometimes it's not worth it to go through all of the stress and anxiety caused by peer pressure. Sometimes it's best to just say no. I know, it pains me to even type this because of the immaturity and lack of seriousness associated with it, but you never know what one decision can do to you.


http://www.ajc.com/news/news/father-and-son-sentenced-to-prison-for-bank-robber/nS2L9/