Note: I know that people who know me from my younger days know about this story. Please help me to connect with “her” by sending me a message.
My Own Regrets
First, let me tell you about my regrets about this incident.
I regret that I did not visit her while she is in the hospital to at least apologize to her in person for the consequence of the activity that I planned.
I regret that I did not insist on seeing her parents when they came to our school to be enlightened on the matter. Now that I am a parent, I know how it must have felt. Having said this, I also understand why my bosses did not allow me to meet them when they came for a visit.
I regret being unable to foresee all the circumstances of the activities. My focus has been on the fun parts and I failed to consider that the students involved during that time are not as tough as my high school classmates when we did ours.
The Event
It was the closing event of our Citizen Army Training Class and as a closing activity, we organized an obstacle course for the cadets. We built an Obstacle Course on our campus grounds that will make the cadets run, walk, climb, jump and slide. For each area, cadet officers were assigned to implement order and discipline.
Everything went well at the start. Cadets and officers are having fun. As the activity went on, some cadets started feeling unwell due to heat and exhaustion. They are taken to the school clinic where they are allowed to rest. And then, it happened…
The Incident
There is one area of the obstacle course where the student cadets have to slide downhill. We wetted the slope to make it a smooth slide but some students think of it as a way to get their clothes dirty. And so some students, instead of sliding down the hill on their butts decided to just run down the hill.
Our cadet officers are not allowed to manhandle the cadets so they cannot really impose discipline other done yell some threats of punishment.
She is one of the students who decided that these officers cannot do anything other than yell at her so she decided to run down, instead of slide down that slope. On her way down, she tripped and was unable to control herself while running downhill. An officer tried to catch her at the base of the hill and as she stopped, we heard a snap.
We thought she stepped on a stick but she said she is in too much pain. Cadet officers took her to the school clinic while we continue with the activities.
As we are winding our activity down, I was informed that she was taken to the hospital. She had a broken thigh bone.
Outcomes
As we were planning the activity, we envisioned the Obstacle Course to go down in history as one of most famous events of the school. We were right, it became famous but not in a positive way. It became the first and last activity of that kind.
An internal investigation was held and yes, me and the cadet officers were spared of any serious disciplinary action. But the feelings of guilt was not taken away by that decision.
She had to wear a cast on her leg for a year. She was not able to attend her high school graduation ceremonies and she did not start college as early as expected.
Pain
What could have been a temporary pain in the butt and some dirty clothes turned into a year of regret, maybe even more. If only she has accepted that the situation then calls for a strict adherence to the rule, the pain may have been avoided. But she might have also been asking at the back of her mind, why does she have to be disciplined by these so-called “officers”?
Let us look deeper into this and think. Had she chosen the pain of discipline at the time, it could not have turned into regret later on. And unfortunately for her, it turned out to be a huge regret.
In Conclusion…
A lot of problems in this world can be solved just by being disciplined. Money, health, and relationship problems are usually the result of forgoing self-discipline for a temporary feeling of joy. When the results of being undisciplined pile-up and reveal itself, there may not be enough time to solve the problem.
Undisciplined spending results in mountains of debts.
Unhealthy foods lead to serious, expensive, chronic health problems.
Unfaithfulness, cheating, etc. leads to broken families and relationships.
I suggest that you always choose the pain of discipline to avoid the pain of regret. Please believe me, this is coming from me, a person who has experienced a lot of pains of regret.