Self-discipline
- Rob McCann, Executive Director
Some people have told me they aren’t as supportive of Catholic Charities as they might be because they think some of our clients lack self-discipline. “Why don’t those guys at the House of Charity just stop drinking?” they ask, or “Why doesn’t that single mother of 3 get out there and get a decent job?”
One of the definitions of the word discipline is “the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity.” That’s certainly a definition our clients know. They behave the way they do because that is what their experiences of adversity have trained them to do. Right now, any given client may not have any other tools in her tool belt than the ones modeled by her own parents. Those may not be the best tools, but they’re the ones she’s got, and they’re allowing her to survive, whether emotionally or physically.
We see our job as providing our clients with the basics. It’s like Maslow’s hierarchy. Once people have shelter and food and safety, well, that’s when they can start thinking about ways to improve themselves and better their lives. Until those bases are covered, those needs are going to require all a person’s attention and energy.
The words discipline and disciple come from the same root, the Latin for “student.” Our clients are disciples of life. Our job is to make the lessons they’re getting a little more tolerable.
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