Discipline

 

There was an American Peace Corps volunteer I met in a rural village in Africa who was arrogant and looked down on anyone who was not like him like myself  because he was brought up very differently from me so he behaved the way he was brought up. It did not matter to him that I sheltered him in my house when he had arrived in that village until I found him a place to rent later. He was not my friend because we had nothing in common.

One day the topic of discipline came up when we were together in my house. I said that the discipline always plays a role in your life and how it shapes your entire life in a positive way. He was surprised and vehemently denied the role of discipline in anyone’s life because he had never learned the value of discipline in his life so I let the subject drop and never saw him again in that small village where he lived in isolation. I forgot his name because he was not my friend and we were two very different people but I do remember his arrogance and his pathetic lack of knowledge about the world. It happens when some one is brought up by his indifferent parents in small towns where who will bring the pumpkin pie for the next church meeting was more important than teaching their kids some values and discipline in life .

I have met many people like him and learned to ignore them from the start because they believed that they were smart alec who had nothing to learn from others like me and I had nothing to learn from them because they had no knowledge.

May be he was a victim of his upbringing and his schooling that focused more on grade points than knowledge . He did not believe that many English words were borrowed from other languages like Arabic, Hindi and Latin so I gave him lots of examples but that made him more rigid in his denials.  Such people never accept that they are  ignorant  but pretend to be otherwise. The routine education does not make a person educated .The wide knowledge of the world in numerous subjects makes a person knowledgeable , wise and mature who gets respect from others.

While I was watching the TV program where a lady was talking about the role of discipline in her life  and how it shaped her life so I thought that I should write about it and tell you how it shaped my life . Perhaps you will learn something about the discipline  and realize that it plays a great role in shaping up people in a very positive way.

I had a friend in college who lived near my home . He was smart but often skipped his classes  so he was ill prepared for the final exams that were due so he approached me and told me that he needed help in getting ready for the forthcoming exams. He wanted to study with me every night so we set up a bed with a mosquito net and a table lamp in our veranda and studied whole night from 7 pm until 6 am  with no sleep and studying hard. We asked each other questions and found answers in the books when we could not think of the answers. Thus we studied for several months and both of us passed the final exams , I with distinction in some subjects and he got better grades than I in others. This is what I call discipline but it also requires a determination and a desire to practice it. It required sacrifice of not sleeping and concentrating on studies but the end result was worth it that he still remembers because he benefited from this discipline that allowed him to go for further studies and a well paid job later on. We chose different directions in our life so I lost contact with him but that is life.

The so called friends I had in high school and later in college have all disappeared so that too happens all the time. Now I think about the discipline that shaped me from my childhood to my adulthood by teaching me the values that I still hold dear. I was not disciplined by my parents who taught me values but never forced them upon me so it stayed with me. People who are strict with their kids during their childhood often find them becoming rebellious as they grow older .It is not unheard that a preacher’s daughter runs away from a restrictive home with someone who is worthless because she does not obey discipline.

This leads to all kinds of problems like not doing home work, skipping the classes and keeping bad company that leads them to acquire bad habits so they drop out from high school. I do not have to tell you what happens when a kid drops out from schooling and what he becomes as a consequence.  His so called friends also suffer the same consequence because they think that discipline means nothing to them . It is too late by the time they realize the value of discipline  later in life.

I see in the movies how badly some students behave in American High School class rooms ,showing no respect to their teachers just because they do not have discipline  so they behave badly.They also bully other students who are polite and follow rules. It is not hard to understand who succeeds in life later and who fails.  Children who do not respect their parents are the same kids who later become social deviants, bullies and keep bad company.

I often think of the armed forces like Army, Navy or Air force how harshly they treat their new recruits at first just to teach them that utmost discipline in their academy is necessary to become a successful officer or a pilot later on. In their profession, there is no room for a person who does not learn discipline in the academy so such people are expelled. The officers keep a keen eye on every cadet , male or female and treat them harshly if they do not follow order or discipline  so many cadets suffer initially but learn to respect the rules that can even save their life during war or some such emergency. Their hardship training makes them tough and resilient  that helps them form a life long bond with each other. The academy teaches them honesty, love for your nation called patriotism and the courage to face challenges that may some day need him or her to sacrifice their lives during war.

I had a cousin who told me how he cheated in the entrance exam to get admitted to the prestigious Air Force Academy that surprised me because he was such a moron .When he arrived at the academy, he found out that his fellow  classmates were  far more intelligent than him so one day he ran away to go back to his mundane life. He was not smart and he was not honest so he was a total misfit. So he chose to run away rather than the academy expelling him. The tragedy was that his own father helped him cheat in the entrance exams .

My playmates  used to come to pick me up to play with them in the park but I had to complete my homework to get everything ready for the next day. Only then I went to play with them such was my self imposed discipline. I went to a movie only once a year and often not even that because I did not have any pocket money and was ashamed to ask for it from my parents. That required discipline. If you practice discipline since your childhood, it becomes a habit that stays with you the rest of your life. To be honest, hard working , be responsible for the job assigned to you, be fearless and always do what is right  under all circumstances, never lie or cheat anyone like my worthless cousin are the values you learn from your parents. People will respect you for all these values. Your office manager will notice that you are very reliable and always complete the task given you because you have discipline .

In the armed services, your senior officers  keep an eye on you  and evaluate you based on your discipline and strong values  so they promote you to be a team leader or an officer who they can rely on  no matter how hard is the task. Brigadiers and Generals are not born that way but they are the product of training  and excellent service records so they are promoted while others  remain in their lower status.  Similarly your teachers also notice that you are a hard working student who always does his home work and passes his exams with very good grades so they will guide you to a good college where  you may be given a scholarship .Your teacher does not do so for every student  but he will recommend you  because he knows your potential  to become a  professor , Engineer or a Scientist in the future but you have to work hard to get there . Such people are called mentors who know what you can achieve in your life given the opportunity.

The librarian of our college  gave me a part time job sorting out books and documents so that I could earn a little to pay for my tuition . She always showed her love for me and was very happy when I gave her a copy of my Ph.D dissertation  that she put in the new display board promptly. She was my mentor who knew that I always fulfilled my duties . She is dead now but I always fondly remember her sweet nature who believed in my potential.

The education you receive in your High School  and College comes to help you find a good job if you learn the proper skill the job market demands  but the school does not teach you values like discipline. That comes from your parents but sadly many parents fail to instill values in their children that later shows in their behavior.  Lying, cheating in exams,  bullying the classmates , showing no respect to the elders and your teachers  are not values.  A person may have some education but he will not succeed in life if he does not have values that I mentioned earlier. So, you need to learn very early in your life that studies require discipline . How you manage your job requires discipline. How successful you become as a parent also depends on discipline. How you progress in your career depends on discipline.  How you raise your children and teach them good values  depends on discipline. How you manage your finances  during your professional career and later when you retire  demands  financial discipline.  So, the Photo of this blog says Discipline = Success . That is the truth of life.