My third degree black belt pre-test is tonight…the mission is to not only showcase the willingness but the ability to perform at the altitude of your leaders expectations while being humbly judged from the hard ground he sits. And that’s not truly what he’ll be looking for.
Determination and dedication without facial expressions influenced by unfocused thoughts and or self delivered disappoints fed by a missed step cannot be read while the heart, body and soul are in motion.
A martial artist’s journey isn’t necessarily about being called to the performance floor...I remember writing during the budding days of Karate how each person studying the ancient art brought with them separate reasons for expanding their lives and style. A child of four sharpens his skills of communication by showing respect to his parents through measures of learning to listen before reacting. A teen finds a freedom of expression by maintaining the devout purpose of what each form symbolizes and how they’re able to embrace its creation inside the chapters of their own challenges.
If martial arts truly was about breaking bricks and developing high flying kicks, the spirit filled walk would last no longer than eight months to a year. Which might be why so many who’ve run and tripped over the unwritten shapes that make up the art excel only to green belt…its within that level that methodology and personal desire begin to create unheard songs inside a mind that’s learned to recognize not only the right but left side and together each becomes an equal during the process of growing toward the horizon.
The kicks become more difficult until you break them down. A jump turning side kick cannot seize acceptance if the basic side kick was never conquered. A simple front kick involves the knee being lifted first but no kick paints the face of mastering it until one discovers the truest feature is your hips.
Everything a martial artist learns in class can be used in everyday life. Having the confidence to stand in front of my master tonight has led to me speaking to hundreds of schools and universities. Breaking down a round house kicks teaches the imagination to look at his job position and search not only for better ways to do newer things but to make better the original idea.
A sushi chef constantly tries to perfect the initial flavor that springs to life inside his client’s pallet. If his openness to learn formulates a medley of colors the recipe for his success rests not in the bottom line numbers that keep the door open but rather how he prepares the basic California roll. No matter what the discovery…sushi is nothing more than rice, seaweed and fish. It’s your imagination through your chef’s presentation that makes it delicious.
I often wonder if the current economic conditions of this great nation are nothing more than the fallen statues of students who wanted the black belt without learning the letters of the alphabet that creates the sentence. No paragraph can be printed while being understood if the words delivered don’t feature the ingredients that make up communications. Anyone can grunt and we can make up thoughts our dogs are thinking everyday but in the end Fifi and Jeffrey were probably saying, “What a quack! I get free room and board and a good tummy rubbing and all I have to do is act cute.”
I’ve read that becoming a third degree black belt takes the human mind and spirit deeper into the travels of who, what, where, why, when and how. It’s a spiritual connectedness that resembles nothing because each journey is different. Some will see Yoda and place tremendous values in studying the trails of leaders before us while others actively become involved with their churches, schools or community service.
I vividly remember my first martial arts test…the vision wasn’t about becoming a blue belt. Sensei wouldn’t allow us to believe that way. Create a path to the most distant thought. Get on it and stay on it. As you walk thousands of large, small, thin, fat, light and heavy items will be tossed at you…its mission: kill your dreams.
While standing there with a white belt wrapped around an overweight waist, it became my vision to become Julio’s first black belt. The meanest, toughest man I’ve ever met mainly because he had the courage to say, “Your radio ego means nothing in my class.” Nice! His personality could pull in the wandering bodies but none of them mastered his great skills. Then the real world caught up to him…there’s no cha-ching in kicking. He had to get a real life and job. The private school was officially closed.
In his absence the view of the path never changed…the vow to become his first black belt shot through me like a wild fire set free on a Montana mountain side. Don’t let anyone fool you…a martial artist can walk from school to school and learn every style known to modern man but in the end he did it for one person…the first who stood before him.
My two black belts and quite possibly a third will forever belong to him. I often wonder if he knows how far his passion for the art has traveled. Proving time and time again that what we do today has impact on the next seven generations. I have passed his place of business several times but never gained the courage to walk inside. I want to remember his fire. His hard ways and constant screaming that led to one pushing their limits to higher mountains. To suddenly show up is a radio guy bragging. Sometimes you’ve got to let the wind do the communicating. Ask the lonely dandelion on the lawn…thanks to the wind, he has a community to take care of tomorrow.
Hey Sensei! Thanks for the original dream!!!! Now everybody blow on your computer screen. It’ll one day reach him like a message in a bottle floating peacefully on the open sea.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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