BALANCE IN A MAN'S LIFE

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

 

From TODAY, Voices

Wednesday, 18-February-2009

 

By Dr James Dobson

 

The acrobat who walks the tightrope understands that there is one skill needed more than any other, and it is balance.

 

I remember watching the 1984 Olympics. One marathoner still stands out in my mind. She entered the coliseum dehydrated and off-balance, listing to her left and swinging her right hand. Almost unconscious, she ran the last lap and fell across the finish line into the arms of the race officials.

 

There are men and women today in the same condition – completely out of balance, just struggling to get across the finish line. During my 14 years at the USC School of Medicine, I saw a pattern in the lives of young students that demonstrated this.

 

During the first two years, the students threw every bit of energy into their work, to the exclusion of everything else. At first it seemed workable, but by the third year, their spouses began to realise that they had been replaced by the profession of medicine; and that’s when marital conflict and divorce became rife among the students.

 

It doesn’t matter how noble the reason for the imbalance, its consequences are just as destructive. We have to set a pace for ourselves that we can keep for a lifetime.