Restrain from falling prey to weaknesses.

There are those who see a group of friends gamble, got interested and acquired an addiction for gambling. There are also those who watch a similar number of gamblers in action, curious as well, interested in the activity too but never got addicted to it. Again and again, throughout my sixty and more years, I have seen it happen in other social activities such as drinking, smoking and sex. How is that so? What is it that caused the difference between the two different persons?

It certainly has nothing to do with interest. You can be assured almost everybody, with the exception of priest and nuns perhaps, are interested in some kind of gambling, drinking, smoking and sex. Yet, despite the interest, there are those who have some kind of restraint which prevents them from being too obsessive in the activities.

And when it comes to the financial factor, it cannot be taken into consideration at all as the very poor do gamble, drink smoke and hunt for sex, some with restraint while others in wild abandon. Well, without their own money, some of these people merely resort to stealing, prostitution, begging and rape.

The question here is, how is it that some people can better restrain themselves than others? Where or how did they cultivate the discipline to be able to restrain themselves where others fail? People have been talking about discipline, people having been telling about restraint, yet is there a guideline on how to cultivate the kind of restraint and discipline that is needed to ward off the many evil invaders that wreak havoc on our society? Or is it more than just discipline? Is mental strength alone sufficient?

Obviously knowledge alone is insufficient to fight the many evils in our midst. I know a doctor who gambled so relentlessly that nothing could stop him from plummeting into debts and a life as a fugitive from his debtors. Well, there are professional men and politicians who are still obsessed enough with sex to risk their careers and future.

So, can we possibly develop sufficient mental strength or discipline to overcome whatever human weaknesses we may possess?