Discipline

A young boy was flying a kite. He asked his mother, ‘What makes a kite fly high?’ He expected his mother to appreciate him. However his mother replied, ‘The string!’ The boy was aghast, ‘the string is holding the kite down… it’s the wind that makes it fly high… and of course, the way I use the wind to make my kite fly higher…’

The mother calmly replied, ‘If you think the string is holding the kite down, then set the kite free… let it go higher… let it soar.’ All those who have flown kites will tell you that when the string is cut, the kite comes down… in a lifeless and listless manner. The young lad had learnt a valuable lesson. So, can we!
There are things that we believe are holding us down and preventing us from soaring higher in life. However, if we look closely, they may be the ones that can help us grow and glow in life… they may be like the string that makes the kite soar high…. This string is called discipline.

It is said so well, ‘If it is going to be… it’s up to me!’ We need to develop discipline if we wish to soar high, like a kite in the sky. Look around and we notice that achievers are successful due to high levels of discipline.

But, discipline is considered a dampener. It is found to be irritating and infuriating. Human beings, by instinct, abhor rules. We hate to mould our lives to somebody else’s set of rules. However, we can have our own set of rules… self-discipline.

To soar like a kite and take high flight
Ensure the discipline string is tight!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Justification

Pedro’s father was ailing and pining to meet him. But, Pedro, who was working in another city, was busy with his job assignments. Eventually, the old man was admitted to the hospital and the doctors said he would not last long. Pedro was told about it but he reached three days later… a day after his father had died!

When admonished, Pedro nonchalantly stated that bus travel made him nauseous and train tickets were only available for the day he came on. Obviously, when asked why he didn’t choose to travel by air, Pedro would use his fear of flying as an excuse. Air travel was traumatic for him and hence, it was a closed option.

Six months later, Pedro was deputed by his organisation to go to America for six month training. Pedro took the flight!


Pedro used his fear of flying as a justification for his lack of motivation in visiting his father. However, when lured by other motives, he did not find any mental blocks in sitting in an aircraft that would take a longer flight. His fear did not matter anymore.

Our justifications stand exposed when we choose to change our actions in different situations due to altered motives. So often, so many of us make excuses for tasks which we do not really want to undertake. And the mask slips when a fresh lure appeals to our sense of judgement.

We must examine every justification we make. We must check whether it is a valid reason or an excuse. We delude ourselves when we succumb to the declaration of dishonest excuses. It is pertinent to note that never mind his public pretence, Pedro cannot justify to himself, his inability to be with his father when it mattered most.

Reasons stand the test of altered motivation
If not, then they are convenient justification!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

So that it may rain...

This year the summer was hotter than before. A friend, who was visiting Goa for the first time, remarked, ‘why is it so hot?’ Isabel Vas who was present, responded, ‘so that it may rain!’
The statement was Zen like… born of a vision of a wider perspective. Most of us would have immediately reasoned that the heat was due to global warming, indiscriminate felling of trees, etc. But, in the hurry to correctly identify the negative, we often play blind to positive possibilities.

There is nothing wrong in recognising the negative. We can make corrections only by knowing and accepting the flaws. But if we miss out the affirmative implications, we lose sight of optimism and positive attitude.

Indeed, Ms Vas, who was my teacher in college, taught me a wonderful lesson that day. I learnt to look forward to the rain when in the midst of sweltering heat. Such progressive perspectives light up lamps of hope. It makes us understand and accept that the cycle of happenings is often for a reason.

The rising heat is a result of many a grave reason…
But note that it is also needed for the rainy season!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Pay the Price

As a child, he was denied a glass of water at a store, because of the colour of his skin. That really affected him as did another incident when his bicycle was stolen. The 12 year old told the police officer that he wanted to beat up the thief. The officer told him to learn how to fight before you start challenging people. Immediately he began to train under that officer and soon began his boxing career. After winning his first amateur bout in 1954, he went on to win at higher levels.

At the age of 18 he won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. In 1964, he became the heavyweight champion of the world. In 1967, he started a different kind of fight with his outspoken views against the Vietnam War. He refused to serve in the army, arguing that his religious beliefs (he had converted to Islam in 1964) prevented him from killing innocents. He was convicted for committing a felony and stripped of his world title and boxing license.

The US Supreme Court eventually overturned the conviction in 1971, but he had lost nearly four prime years of his career. On his return, he reclaimed the heavyweight title two more times, in the 1970s, winning against Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984, he devoted his time to philanthropy, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. On June 3, 2016, Muhammad Ali died but continues to be an immortal inspiration across the world.


Not just Ali’s near-invincibility as a boxer, but it is his commitment to his values that has positively influenced our world. Al Sharpton said it well, ‘For someone who had achieved the highest level of athletic celebrity, to put all of that on the line – the money, the ability to get endorsements – to sacrifice all of that for a cause, gave a whole sense of legitimacy to the movement… He knew he was going to jail and did it anyway. That's another level of leadership and sacrifice.’

Leadership is eventually about backing your own values and vision, even at the cost of paying a heavy price. We have to learn that from Ali… He paid the price because he saw worth in staying steadfast with his principles. He was robbed of his prime years as well as the money and other benefits. But he stood his ground and spoke out, to become an icon for the global counterculture movement.

‘The Greatest’ showed that leaders truly rise
If they stand their ground and pay the price!

- Pravin K. Sabnis