Post by Grape on Jul 9, 2009 9:08:43 GMT -5
The biggest difference between a mature man and a childish boy is how disciplined he is with his actions. Why is this?
Let's look at the classic story of "The Tortoise and the Hare" by Aesop. The hare and the tortoise decide to race each other one day. The hare is obviously the faster of the two, so he takes the lead. But his egotistical emotions get to him, leading to his decision of taking a nap.
When he wakes up, he sees the tortoise very close to the finish line, and dashes towards the line himself. Ultimately, the tortoise wins the race and the hare loses because of his pride.
What was the tortoise doing the whole time? Well, the tortoise was a lot slower than the hare, but he kept on reaching for his goal, and he was determined. Although the race may have been tiring for him, he did not give up. He withheld his emotions and motivated himself with his mentality. This is a very important characteristic of the mature man.
Remember that the point of life is to be happy. Well, there are many situations in life where one is faced with the problem of being happy now or being happy later. There's the high school student who's having a blast right now, but will soon grow up and graduate to be nothing more than a garbage man held up in stressful debts. There's the hard working student who will grow up to be a successful doctor, lawyer, businessman, etc.
On a more specific note, let's think about Bobby. Bobby has to take the SAT tomorrow morning. His logical mind tells him to stay home and get some nice rest. His emotional side tells him to go out with his friends and get stoned for the night. Bobby decides to be rational. He knows that the SAT is a much bigger deal than just a night out with his buddies. He decides he can give up just one night of partying. After all, the SAT is only taken about one or two times. Partying can happen any day!
One must learn to put one's emotions aside for just one moment and think rationally. "What is more important, smoking with my friends all night long or studying for the test that'll determine my future college?"
Let's look at some everyday problems:
- Test tomorrow. Watch TV all night or give up 30 minutes to study?
- You finish your soft drink in the road. Litter it now or throw away in your garage later?
- You promise to pay a friend back $5. The next day, you have $5, but you want to buy candy. Return the money or buy the candy?
- You're taking a jog. You feel very tired and want to walk, but you're only a few minutes away from finishing. Walk and defeat the purpose of taking a long jog or continue jogging and efficiently succeed with your goal?
If you decided to be logical about it, you probably picked: studying, throw away the drink in the garage later, return the money, and continue jogging. We all have emotions of laziness and carelessness. But we must learn that it really isn't a problem if we go against our emotions and with our moral logistics. This is how we become men.
<33 Grape
Let's look at the classic story of "The Tortoise and the Hare" by Aesop. The hare and the tortoise decide to race each other one day. The hare is obviously the faster of the two, so he takes the lead. But his egotistical emotions get to him, leading to his decision of taking a nap.
When he wakes up, he sees the tortoise very close to the finish line, and dashes towards the line himself. Ultimately, the tortoise wins the race and the hare loses because of his pride.
What was the tortoise doing the whole time? Well, the tortoise was a lot slower than the hare, but he kept on reaching for his goal, and he was determined. Although the race may have been tiring for him, he did not give up. He withheld his emotions and motivated himself with his mentality. This is a very important characteristic of the mature man.
Remember that the point of life is to be happy. Well, there are many situations in life where one is faced with the problem of being happy now or being happy later. There's the high school student who's having a blast right now, but will soon grow up and graduate to be nothing more than a garbage man held up in stressful debts. There's the hard working student who will grow up to be a successful doctor, lawyer, businessman, etc.
On a more specific note, let's think about Bobby. Bobby has to take the SAT tomorrow morning. His logical mind tells him to stay home and get some nice rest. His emotional side tells him to go out with his friends and get stoned for the night. Bobby decides to be rational. He knows that the SAT is a much bigger deal than just a night out with his buddies. He decides he can give up just one night of partying. After all, the SAT is only taken about one or two times. Partying can happen any day!
One must learn to put one's emotions aside for just one moment and think rationally. "What is more important, smoking with my friends all night long or studying for the test that'll determine my future college?"
Let's look at some everyday problems:
- Test tomorrow. Watch TV all night or give up 30 minutes to study?
- You finish your soft drink in the road. Litter it now or throw away in your garage later?
- You promise to pay a friend back $5. The next day, you have $5, but you want to buy candy. Return the money or buy the candy?
- You're taking a jog. You feel very tired and want to walk, but you're only a few minutes away from finishing. Walk and defeat the purpose of taking a long jog or continue jogging and efficiently succeed with your goal?
If you decided to be logical about it, you probably picked: studying, throw away the drink in the garage later, return the money, and continue jogging. We all have emotions of laziness and carelessness. But we must learn that it really isn't a problem if we go against our emotions and with our moral logistics. This is how we become men.
<33 Grape
