A letter from June
© The School of Truth
Source p. 316, Oct / Nov 2008 - The Path of Truth
Do you ever rebel at the discipline imposed on you by your elders? There are probably many young people who refuse to listen to their parents, and who go their own way regardless of advice. This is not wise.
It is necessary to realise that when you go out into the world, you will most probably have to take orders from someone. As a beginner at any work you may be preparing for, there will be one in charge.
If you are on a newspaper you will have to follow its policy; if you are in a workshop, you will have to obey the foreman, or if you are in the army or the navy you will have to do as you are told. And this is naming only a few possibilities. In the creative arts, of course, you may succeed in being your own master and in going your own way, once you have established yourself as an artist, an author or a composer. But even here you will have to toe the line or put up with the consequences.
And all this will be much easier for you if you have been disciplined at home. Wise parents try not to put undue restraint on their young folks nowadays, but they do teach them that they cannot have their own way in everything.
They teach them ... or should do ... the necessity for self-control, for without it they are not likely to go far in life. A man who cannot control himself - or a woman - is no fit person to put in charge of others.
Your elders, if they are normal people, have your welfare at heart. It is their desire that you should grow up to be worthy citizens of the state, and worth-while members of the society in which you live.
Remember that you must give to life as well as take from it. In fact, you should think far more of what you give than of what you can get. This means putting the good of the majority before your own desires, and if you have been allowed to please mainly yourself all your life, you will not find it easy to put self into the background.
So do not resent any normal discipline that is imposed upon you. You are being prepared for life, and your parents have years of experience behind them, and should know what is good for you. You may think they are 'squares', but are you old enough to criticise them fairly?
Yours truly,
June
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