I’m sure we’ll all agree that a useful definition of discipline is doing the right thing or what needs to be done at the right time rather than when it’s convenient. Cultivating good habits is also a sure reflection of a disciplined mind. Speaking to this, one thing I’ve always tried to drum into my children’s ears is a need to return things to where they took them from once they’re done with them. Don’t just dump things anywhere or leave them where you used them. I don’t know about you but if there’s one thing I hate in this life, it’s having to look for things. I hate it with a passion. When I need something, I like to know exactly where to go, pick it up, use it and move on to the next thing.
Apart from the fact that having to search for things, especially when you’re in a hurry to go somewhere or get something done, is one of easiest ways to add unnecessary stress to your life, you will most likely be doing the same to others who may need to use that item too; when it could easily have been avoided. One thing I know is that a habit of discipline is transferable. What do I mean by that? An ability to be disciplined in one area of your life is likely to lead you to be disciplined in other areas of your life too. Total indiscipline in a critical area is likely to be replicated in other areas of your life as well.
Discipline can also be described as having the depth of character to remain faithful to your values, no matter the societal pressure to discard of them. Putting up with adversity because of your refusal to take the easier route of conforming to distorted social norms also requires discipline. Believing your way, which is the right way, will eventually prevail and positively change the system no matter how absurd that notion may currently look, takes disciplined thinking emanating from disciplined character. Resisting the temptation to take shortcuts to catch up with peers who have moved ahead and then digging deeper when the going gets tough instead of giving in – all require discipline.
Though it may be true that the average Nigerian has adjusted to the difficult environment and quite remarkably still manage to exhibit great hope that they will make it somehow, it’s almost always about them. Very few have developed the strength of character to believe they can do something to change the society as a whole. Neither have they come to accept the fact that the said change they desire to see in society is contingent on them recognizing their own character shortcomings and doing something about it. Until this yearning for people to do their own part for the whole is developed, true patriotism will remain a pipe dream. All the ideals which form MINDS as an acronym point to one thing, character. But today I’m focusing on one of these virtues, discipline.
Kindly humour me though and permit me to approach it from a slightly different angle; a nuance which not only speaks to placing emphasis on the goal of the whole over that of the part but on having the resolve to resist the temptation to do otherwise. Such requires discipline.
Though it may be true that the average Nigerian has adjusted to the difficult environment and quite remarkably still manage to exhibit great hope that they will make it somehow, it’s almost always about them. Very few have developed the strength of character to believe they can do something to change the society as a whole
The nauseating term, “Marlians” won’t sound too alien to many of us by now. These are young men and women who probably best represent the growing crop of Nigerian youth who’ve lost all hope in this entity called Nigeria. Any residual love of country can best be described as visceral rather than one evoked by a deep appreciation of what the country has achieved or anything it has done for them. This group of shallow young adults think it expedient to discard of long held social norms of decency, respect, thoughtful consideration of others, collectively accepted boundaries in human conduct and have instead adopted a less rigid approach to life; a rebellious attitude, irreverence and individualism, where you are your first and last consideration.
It’s fast becoming some sort of movement by our highly disillusioned youth who’ve decided to stick two fingers up to a society and a system which they believe, quite correctly, has let them down. They’ve now decided to live life their own way and by their own rules (which are really not many) without the shackles of long held social conventions and values. Many are products of folks who after struggling daily in this unforgivingly harsh environment to keep head above water are left with no time to instil critical virtues in their children. In direct response to our leaders in most sectors (politics, commerce, religion etc) whose example they’ve decided to emulate, they too have made their minds up to do only that which serves their interest and their ego. Scary thing is, our generation and those before us seem to have unwittingly created a Frankenstein who we don’t have a clue how to tame.
For long we’ve been bedevilled by leaders who see society and the people that make it up as something to subdue, rape and pillage at will, once it’s “their time”. Well, breaking news people. The Marlians no longer agree to be subdued. Unfortunately for them and the rest of us, the majority of these confused lot lack the educational backbone and the moral character to chart a better course and so they resort to the easiest picking of “anything goes”. Their only rule is that there are no rules. They want to be able to do this, travel there and have that but lack the discipline, patience and strength of character to work and earn it. In defiance, the Marlians point to “leaders” who can neither explain their source of wealth nor have ever been asked to do so, as justification for their own equally repugnant position. Perhaps unknown to them, they end up being not that different to those they’ve come to see as their oppressors.
For any team (which is what a society should be) to have any chance of success, each team member must be utterly committed to the success of the team as a collective and this can only happen when all are driven by a sense of ownership. The Marlians, like most Nigerians have little sense of ownership in the Nigerian project. And like the Iranian people initially did, when their most influential military leader, General Soleimani was assassinated recently by US forces, some sort of primordial national pride will cause most Nigerians to rise up too when faced with any external assault, whether it be physical or verbal. But at the drop of a hat, these same people would bail out of the country without looking back and given the slightest opportunity, would take action detrimental to the interest of their country, so long as it benefits them. Their “leaders” have taught them well, that it’s all about them.
Changing the nation…one mind at a time.
