Discipline

“Discipline is the name of the game”, this is the famous quote ever uttered by the famous basketball all-star Michael Jordan. Honestly speaking, all successful people and even powerful leaders all around the globe are equipped with discipline. Discipline really affects a person’s way of thinking, actions and most importantly, his behavior. I know not all people are disciplined like a monk but every one can be if we are only guided by quick-witted, disciplined people.

I know I am not totally disciplined for I always end up being called by our student welfare for violating again a not-so-serious school rule. Sometimes, I even sleep in class because maybe I hate the teacher or the subject. I even easily lose my temper when playing hardly on the basketball court or arguing to my classmates on a heated debate. I am a short-tempered person who outrageously acts first before thinking what I have wrongly done. But all of these changed when I was in fourth year high school. The reason for my step by step changes is when I took Civic Welfare Training Service or CWTS for short. At first, I was not really ready for the subject because first and foremost, I do hate discipline-oriented subjects. I hate being told by my CWTS officers to do things that I never have done before. They always tell me to tuck-in my white t-shirt which I perfectly hate because I am some kind of a guy who adores hip-hop very much. They also watch every move I make which I feel like I was controlled by a wicked dictator. Most of all, they demand respect from us by telling us to do side-steps whenever they walk in front of us and calling them “sir” whenever we talk to them. Funny but true, I do not like being controlled by any of my classmates. Honestly, I felt at that time that I was like a pet and the officers are my strict owners. Sooner I realized that I was just over-exaggerating and foolish when I thought of those things. One by one I adapted to their style of disciplining us, the cadets. They told us that we do all their rightful demands so that we can be disciplined individuals. Discipline is not just about being quiet in meetings or listening to all of your teacher’s lengthy lessons but also following other’s commands without much hesitation. What I meant is discipline is the way of teaching correct and acceptable patterns of proper behavior. Thus, our CWTS officers were disciplining us all the way from the start. Of course, one also needs good thinking to know what is right from wrong. The officers taught us about the real essence of cleanliness, responsibility and patience. Most of all, they oriented us about teamwork since we, the cadets, are grouped into platoons.

I learned many things in our CWTS class that really shaped me to be a better individual and at the same time, a good model to young ones. Now, I never committed a violation of our school’s rules again and I always play basketball without losing my concentration and temper. Most importantly, I now know how to balance my study time and leisure time. I know it takes time to change all your bad habits but all we need is just plain patience and the strong determination that you will possibly change.