Times Of Swaziland: AS THE TWIG IS BENT THE TREE INCLINES

AS THE TWIG IS BENT THE TREE INCLINES
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By Bongani Simelane on 25/11/2017 05:07:00


This statement is about the path one takes in life. Lessons learned early, when
we are but twigs, would impact our future, or how the tree inclines. Another way
to look at it is in terms of trajectory.
Absent any wind, once you launch a rock or an arrow, it would fly on the course
set at the beginning. The biggest changes in the path it follows would be set at
the very beginning. Even things with guidance, like airplanes or rockets, start
out in a particular direction.
The longer they go in one direction, the more difficult it is to change the
ultimate destination. Ultimately, this statement is about children, and how they
are raised. If they are raised ‘correctly’, they would do well in their
society. If they are allowed to misbehave from the beginning, it would be much
harder to correct their behaviour later in life.
Why is early correction important?
The obvious answer is that the longer you wait, the tougher it is to get to
where you are going. As an example, if you are heading exactly away from where
you want to go, the longer you wait, the longer it would take to get back to the
start, much less to your destination. If you are in school, when should you
start working on a project?
Should you wait until the night before, and risk doing it wrong, or should you
start before that, and get a course correction by talking to the teacher? It’s
easier to change course early in the project, right?
Similarly, the statement implies, it’s easier to break a small child of the
habit of lying than it would be if you waited until they were a teen or an
adult.
The patterns they form early on in their life would be the pattern they follow
the rest of their lives.
It is always possible to change course but it takes more effort the longer it is
left to grow in the bent form. Have you ever seen a young tree that had blown
over, and then re-grown? We have one in our front yard. It is a mess, having
grown from the leaned-over state. Not good, but it’s too late to fix it now.