Striving

So, a white kid grows up watching the Adventures of Jackie Chan. He loves this show, from the art style to the mild flavor of magic to the bad guys getting cool weapons, and, most importantly, Jackie himself, being as hilariously awesome as always.

Now , fast forward a few years, and Jackie is still good, but add in Jet Li, who starred in the period piece Fearless. Fearless takes a man of prominent social and physical strength and renown for fighting and transforms him into a patriot of China, who wants to raise the esteem of the Chinese man in the eyes of the western world currently dominating them. Fearless is awesome. Jet Li is awesome too.

And then Avatar the Last Airbender. A child's dreamscape of awe, mysticism, world building, characters, and, most importantly, magic powers that are based around martial arts.

It was a paradise, kept at bay by the screen of the TV.

Growing up, I didn't particularly like myself; I was overweight, I had anger issues, and I didn't really know how to like my siblings, much less myself. Not that all of these are resolved now in my mid-to-late-twenties, but I found something that does help, all inherent in the things I loved as a kid: Martial Arts.

Divorcing the words from each other, “Martial” the construct of anything of or pertaining to war. It's inherent to all forms of combat and self-defense that someone could be hurt because violent people want violent things. Welcome to the world. The truly wonderful part, is the second word: Art. Art is the creative branches of human experience, containing but not limited to painting, drawing, sculpting, literature and dance. “Art is the stuff that comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comforted.” Cesar A. Cruz said that, and I have no idea what else he's said, but that quote rings true enough to mention here..

The true beauty of martial arts is that the subject matters and principles of both are not divorced; they are one and the same as a whole subject. The motion of punching is not limited to the violent act of driving your fist at an imaginary opponent; rather, the punch, being an extension of your arm, is also an extension (or an expression) of the self. The way in which the student punches is the way in which the student expresses themselves. And mind you, we don't tell our students these things right away; it wouldn't be encouraging to hear the teacher say “Hey, you punch like crap” for the first few ranks in our Kenpo Karate system. But over time, the motion becomes smoother, it refines itself through repetition, and the punch—once thrown haphazardly into the air—is now a polished, precise strike, not serving principles of violence but demonstrating the discipline of repetition.

The art is not only in the motion, but in the practice of the motion to achieve that refinement. No sketch artist came into this world clutching a pencil, ready to draw right out of their mother's womb. No great painter sprung forth with a paint brush in hand and a cheesy beret on their head, ready to color a canvas. This is same in the martial arts; rarely does anyone who comes in for their first lesson move in a way that is already attuned to the practice and discipline of martial arts.

That's the beauty of it.

It is a process that takes time and patience, and while the student thinks they're getting better at punching and kicking, they are actually getting better at being disciplined enough to get better at the punching and kicking, and it won't stop there! We describe it as “taking the training off the mat.” What it means is that the lessons we learn—the discipline, the doing over and over and over of something to make it—and ourselves—better—those lessons are not bound only to the karate, but we take it with us when we leave, and we apply it to the other areas of our lives. Martial arts is a holistic study of being human, and to truly take that message to heart, it has to come home with you.

This is what we strive for in the martial arts.

This is what I live for. I am a martial arts teacher; I've been an assistant instructor for six years, and May 2021 was the last month that I worked for someone else and not myself. Every student who signs up to be a member of our school gets my best effort to help them achieve their goals while they work to make themselves better for this journey through life. As of this year, I am a full time karate teacher, making my dreams come true while helping others pursue their goals.