Discipline is an important part of our lives, and is an important step in achieving freedom. As Aristotle once said, “Through discipline comes freedom” discipline allows people to be free to achieve bigger goals. And not even just far reached goals, if one disciplines themselves to charge their phone every night, then they are free from worry the following day about running out of batteries in the middle of a call. Through discipline, Helen keller was able to be free to explore the world, despite that she was blind, deaf and mute. Many African Americans managed to overcome discrimination and segregation through discipline, one of which was Ruby Bridges. Malala Yousafzai is also an example of freedom through discipline.
Discipline was an important part with the life of Helen Keller. In 1882, when Keller was one-and-a-half years old, she fell ill and became blind, deaf and mute. Frustrated with a limited method of communication, Keller often threw tantrums and was wild and unruly. Finally, Helen Keller’s family hired Ann Sullivan to help their daughter. Sullivan invented a method of communication involving tapping one’s hand. She tried to connect objects and the tapping to Keller, but she rebelled. Finally, Helen Keller had a breakthrough when Ann Sullivan poured water onto Keller’s hand after tapping “water”; Keller had made her first connection. Helen became curious about the world around her, learning new words every day, and it is discipline that allowed Keller to make that breakthrough.
Ruby Bridges was able to overcome discrimination against African Americans through discipline. She was selected, along with many other African Americans, to take a test to determine whether they could or could not attend a “white” school. It was said that the test was exceptionally hard to give African American children a harder time to pass. In 1960, Ruby Bridge’s family was informed that she, along with 6 other African American children had passed the test. Ruby Bridges began attending the William Frantz School, the only African American there. When she arrived at the school, mobs of people protested at the intergration, rioting and throwing objects. Marshals had to accompany her to school and back home. Nearly all the white parents had kept their children at home and all through the day, protesters wre screaming outside. Only one teacher agreed to teach Ruby. Facing racism for a year, the school enrollment finally returned to normal, and through her discipline, Ruby was able to overcome these experiences, and with amny other African Americans, freed themselves from discrimination.
Malala Yousafzai is an example of how discipline can provide freedom. As a child, she attended a school funded by her father, but the Taliban began attacking many schools for girls. This began Yousafzai’s activism in the right for education. She began to speak out about the injustice and starting blogging for the BBC. When Malala was 14, the Taliban issued a death threat against her and her family. Although initially afraid, Malala still continued her speeches. On her way home from school one day, a man boarded a bus which Yousafzai was on and shot her. She was immediately flown to a military hospital, then to England where she recovered. She still speaks today about the importance of education for girls, women and everyone alike, but it was her discipline that kept her going and granted the freedom of education to many other girls.
Contrary to many beliefs, discipline does not always restrain someone from what they want to do. It allows people to not so easily succumb to their impulses, allowing them to be free to achieve higher goals. In order to achieve freedom, we need to discipline ourselves and allowing us to be free to make more decisions in the future.
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