ghandi3.jpgWhile watching an NFL playoff post-game show, I saw footage of the losing team going through the tunnels underneath the stadium back to their locker room. One Carolina Panther player chose to display his frustration by randomly pushing over metal crowd-control barriers that bisected the tunnel, sending them clattering.

Quite frankly I was shocked by the lack of self control, particularly seeing the action done not once but twice. While I’ve long been dissuaded of most of my romantic illusions about professional athletes serving as role models, I guess I still have some lingering expectations on discipline and focus.

“Life is one indivisible whole.” You cannot be truly disciplined on the field, avoiding the kind of loss of control that leads to unsportsmanlike conduct penalties or holding calls, if you are not disciplined off the field. It’s easy to try to kid yourself that there is some sort of switch you can throw but life really isn’t that way.

“Life is one indivisible whole.” We work hard to develop ourselves, discipline ourselves to increase that space between stimulus and response, between input and output, between provocation and calm reaction. That space is where maturity resides and civilization flourishes.

“A person cannot do right in one department whilst attempting to do wrong in another department. Life is one indivisible whole.” — Ghandi