In today's society, discipline is a bad word. Discipline is mean and hurtful. Discipline destroys hopes and dreams and good feelings.
What a load, huh? The view of "discipline" is so terrifyingly wrong, and I'm not sure what we can do to fix it. When I would spank my child, people would say things like, "I could never hit my child!" It wasn't about hitting a child. I have seen people wallop, hit, and abuse their children. That's not what a spanking is. A spanking is to give consequence for action. It's a lesson. At a young age, taking away TV time or going to the playground, or even taking away dessert, is not a consequence that young minds can understand. Talking to them and reason doesn't work either. But a quick pop on a diapered or pull-up covered bottom redirects the child and teaches them that what they have done was not a good thing. As my children grew older, discipline has changed. It might be the removal of a fun activity. It might be a stern lecture. It might be writing an essay about why doing what was done was a bad idea. The possibilities have opened up. The discipline has not stopped. When my son was in the two-three range, we discussed discipline a great deal. It was not a punishment. I didn't care for that word. Discipline is teaching. It comes from the Latin root discupula, meaning student. We see it in the Bible - the disciples were a group of students. To discipline is to teach a lesson. Discipline is a form of love. When you teach a child right from wrong, you are showing love to them. You care about them now and in the future. You are giving them a chance to grow into a great human. But discipline is more than authority to subordinate - be it parent/child, boss/employee, teacher/student, etc. Discipline is a tool that should be used for yourself. And it should be applied each and every day. Athletes (the great ones) understand discipline. They don't show up for a try-out and expect to make the team if they haven't played the game in a while. They don't grab Burger King before a game. They don't wait for someone else to do it. But adults all over the country are displaying their continual attitude towards discipline. I see far too many people that are unhappy with aspects of their lives - career, relationships, body, finances - and their choice is to complain and move on to the next thing. Over and over there is discontent. But what would happen if discipline were applied? What if we worked through the bad times and set up little goals to make life better each day? Honestly, I want to be a best selling novelist. I do. BUT I'm not always the most disciplined in my work. I don't edit my work enough. I don't write as steady a word count daily as I would like. I don't submit my work as often as I should. I have good reason. It's not my season. I have had to put that as a part-time, work as much as I can job so that my kids have priority. But the days are coming when I won't be driving them around every single day. The days are coming where they won't need me as much with school. The days are coming when *I don't want to say it* they won't like me and won't want me around. How will I fill my days? By being disciplined in all of the things I need to do to become a world class author. How do I know that I will be disciplined then? I am working on being disciplined now. This very blog. Making a commitment to write for my few readers is discipline. Making sure I edit at least one chapter a day is discipline. Putting pen to paper each day, even if it is microscopic, is discipline. Discipline is a beautiful word. Discipline makes bad people good, good people great, and great people unstoppable. May we all live a life of discipline.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI have a lot to say about a lot of things. Archives
May 2023
Categories |