Discipline? Love? Both?

Discipline |ˈdisəplin|-the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

I wanted to give the denotative meaning of “love” as well, but I was so against it I couldn’t. Even when talking about a personified figured, it talked about Cupid. I have nothing against Cupid, but CMON MAN! It spoke nothing about conditional/unconditional love or any of that as I was expecting, and connected it more with sex. Well, I guess I could have expected that nowadays.

The word “discipline” has a rather negative connotation. Many people I’ve spoken with connect this word to anger. Is this always the case? Can discipline and love be used interchangeably at times? You be the judge. The denotative meaning alludes directly to “using punishment”. If love is the motivation, is it still yet considered a “punishment”? I believe punishment is more commercially correlated with discipline than love. Do you disagree? Disciplining out of almost ANYTHING else is dangerous—especially anger.

Even in the sense of disciplining a child, there’s a conventional and unconventional way of looking at “discipline. I asked a rather broad question of if people “beat” their kids in disciplining them? A friend of mine gave an amazing notion when she said: “I think very few parents know how to use spanking effectively. Many use it when angry and as punishment instead of discipline. Fear becomes the tool instead of love.” She went on to say “As a mom of 4, I have found that fear makes them respect you when you are watching. Discipline out love makes them want to do the right thing even when away from you.” I agree with this notion.

Even in disciplining yourself, it should be done out of LOVE. LOVE is the key. You will see a distinct difference if this becomes your motivation. Try it, see, realize, try again.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. “
~Frederick Douglass………….Which does love do?

†††††Keep The LOVE Alive†††††

~~M.A.²~~