By Pat C.
Whether it was making plans to hang out with friends or committing to my parents that I would not skip school again, I was always making commitments that I planned on keeping, but they didn’t always happen.
According to The American Heritage dictionary, commitment means to pledge or obligate (oneself). Before my arrival at The Family Foundation School, I didn’t know what commitment meant. I thought that committing to something was just saying that I was going to do something in order to get people “off of my back.” I didn’t worry about whether I was actually going to follow through.
At FFS, I have learned that commitments are more than just words: when I say I am going to do something, I do it.
The FFS students are faced with many opportunities to make commitments when they get here. Sobriety, religion, even extracurricular activities become real decisions for students to make in order to better themselves.
Many students have found it beneficial to commit to living a sober life; both at FFS and in their life after FFS. But, commitment without action is meaningless. This is why it is important for recovering people to get to 12-Step meetings, and to practice the Four Absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love in all aspects of their lives.
In 12-Step programs, it is recommended that a recovering person find a power greater than themselves to give their will over to. For many FFS students committing to a religion and religious practices is a big help in keeping their commitments alive and growing.
Erika C. of Family Two said, “Commitment, to me, is giving up something and not going back on my word. The Sugar Fast [A Lenten practice for Catholics] has brought me closer to my higher power.” The 12-Step program is a spiritual program, and it is necessary that recovering people commit to living a spiritual life.
In addition to specific program practices, extracurricular activities have helped students get involved while learning a lot about themselves and talents they may or may not have used before coming to The Family School. FFS gives students the opportunity to get involved with many extracurricular activities such as drama, chorus, sports, journalism, debate, etc. When students take part in these activities at the school, they are not only committing to being involved with the team or group, but to do the right thing as well.
Chorus is an activity that has helped many students get out of their comfort zone and do something different with their life. Family Four student Nick A. said, “Since I followed through with my commitment to chorus, I have learned about a different side of myself and have become more secure with who I am.”
A main purpose of this article was an experience I had with the 2008-2009 FFS boys basketball team. The season began with fourteen players and ended with six. As one of the remaining six players, it was difficult losing so many of my teammates, especially since the majority of them were starters at one point in the season. That’s when I began to realize what commitment is all about. The team finished the season, losing a home playoff game 55-33 to a team they defeated by eighteen points earlier in the year. The final loss of the season was disappointing, but it was easier to accept, because each of the remaining six players knew that they had made a commitment to play for one another.
Starting point guard Christian H. said, “I didn’t just make a commitment to myself, but to the other fourteen players on the team. That last game opened my eyes to my five teammates who were willing to keep a commitment and never give up, no matter how hard things get.”
When people give their lives over to a 12-Step program there may be many commitments that are necessary to make in order to live a healthier life. At FFS students learn how to keep the commitments that they have made. At FFS I have learned to have integrity in everything that I do, and it all starts with being honest with myself about what kind of person I want to be.
