Image Credit: Unknown - this is my Hapkido Master, Dr. He-Young Kimm, and his chief disciple, Jamie Serio
Back when I was teaching martial arts, my Louisiana school didn’t have as many students as the other schools did, and it’s likely because we insisted on increasing-resistance training and sparring. It was a pain in the butt to learn at that dojo, and it’s because anything awarded there was most certainly earned. If you didn’t know the techniques, or if you knew them AND couldn’t execute them under duress, you didn’t pass.
Lots of people quit. It never stopped my business partner and I from training our students to the standards of excellence to which we still, to this day, hold ourselves.
It was all worth it each time one of our police officer students, or one of our young students, or any of our students that ever had the need to use the things we’ve taught them… it was all worth it when they’d thank us for being so hard on them, and for caring for them like we did.
Lots of people quit. It never stopped my business partner and I from training our students to the standards of excellence to which we still, to this day, hold ourselves.
It was all worth it each time one of our police officer students, or one of our young students, or any of our students that ever had the need to use the things we’ve taught them… it was all worth it when they’d thank us for being so hard on them, and for caring for them like we did.
I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent - no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.”
Seneca, On Providence, 4.3
Life, like a dojo, is filled with tests and trials… many include other people and situations, most are just internal, between you and yourself. The difference between life and the dojo is that there are no matts, padded gear, mouthpieces, time limits, and such in life. Life, while full of tests, isn’t safe like a dojo.
We’ll all face circumstances that seem nigh-impossible, filled with misfortune… AND, for better or worse, Nietzsche’s adage is auspiciously applicable: What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
Conflict and struggle makes us who we are.
If we don’t like who that is, it’s because of how we see ourselves when we’re faced with conflict and struggle, or because we’re still attached to how we’ve responded to past challenges.
It’s not about winning… it’s about giving all you’ve got in the fight.
(See y’all tomorrow)
We’ll all face circumstances that seem nigh-impossible, filled with misfortune… AND, for better or worse, Nietzsche’s adage is auspiciously applicable: What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
Conflict and struggle makes us who we are.
If we don’t like who that is, it’s because of how we see ourselves when we’re faced with conflict and struggle, or because we’re still attached to how we’ve responded to past challenges.
It’s not about winning… it’s about giving all you’ve got in the fight.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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