BLIND SPOT: Drum for Discipline or Depression

I will let my thoughts out on this again. It’s a weekend; and I wake up to a barrage of banging of drums at the barangay covered court adjacent to our house, and this would go on for the whole morning. There would be the understandable silence due to an obvious lunch break. Then they would be at it again at 1. I and my neighbors would be treated to the same symphony the next day. That Saturday morning, I happened to pass by the area of rehearsal and I realized that they were just banging at random, without rhythmic pattern. Oh well, it must be initial practice. On the next weekend, I appreciated how the drummers had progressed to playing a coordinated beat of a march on the long blast of a whistle. Somehow, I saw the value of the instilled discipline. A week or two ago, the e-tryke I was on passed by a public school within the heart of Naga’s residential area, and sounds were drowned out by similar barrage of banging barrels. I hear, in some schools, they go home at 9 for this. So, I’m thinking, in my city, all other schools would be implementing a somewhat similar scenario. Schools across the province also participate in the upcoming event; so it would be safe to surmise that they may be doing the same thing. Still, a considerable number of schools in nearby provinces consider it prestige to participate in parade; so it is highly probable that these populations are audience to parallel performances of percussions. And that’s just the audible part. There could be baton twirlers, the seafaring simulating swayers, and the mass of marching scouts of both genders across ages of elementary school children. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about the noise. I can live with loud hitting of stick on skin; and besides, after a month, the courts would be relatively calmer anyway; but what are we stressing the children for? Such undertakings have been incorporated under the guise of “education”; and is this not directed ultimately toward preparation for gainful employment? Of course, there would be a host of undeniably significant peripherals like physical fitness, the humanities and values which cover discipline, self-esteem, obedience and teamwork, among others. But definitely, the aforementioned could be accomplished without stealing the youngsters’ weekends and weekday afterschool time. And bearing the pecuniary problems which would cause frustrations if unfulfilled. “An article in an issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children’s play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self-control.” “Children who do not have the opportunity to control their own actions, to make and follow through on their own decisions, to solve their own problems, and to learn how to follow rules in the course of play grow up feeling that they are not in control of their own lives and fate. They grow up feeling that they are dependent on luck and on the goodwill and whims of others....” Anxiety and depression often occur when an individual feels a lack of control over his or her own life. “Those who believe that they master their own fate are much less likely to become anxious or depressed than those who believe that they are victims of circumstances beyond their control.” The loss of playtime lessons about one’s ability to exert control over some life circumstances set the scene for anxiety and depression.” (https://www.theatlantic.com) Earlier, I mentioned about hearing the band playing in striking synchronicity at the blast of a whistle; then it crossed my mind, maybe this isn’t so bad. Maybe being immersed in some sort of practice until dark in school days, and all day on weekends isn’t that unfair after all. That sudden thundering coordination of percussion at the direction of some respiration struck the development of with discipline among their ranks. Hey, this is something good. We’ll be developing disciplined youth who would participate in coordinated implementation of directives for an accomplishment of a project. So, after the exhausting afterschool hours and weekends and lost precious time of juvenile jubilation, these kids will come home as disciplined denizens for national development, similar to the discipline instilled on law enforcers and athletes. They are developed with discipline, aren’t they? But why do we have among us, agents and officers on undisciplined corruption and abuse, and athletes and in utter undisciplined violence from derision? Didn’t they participate in afterschool and weekend hours of training? Well, all for tradition. “do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” Ephesians 6:4