I look at all the cracks in the street, the giant potholes, muddy sidewalks, and the way the majority of people dress and carry themselves whenever I step on or off a City Bus.
The old run-down buildings seem to be getting older, new run-down buildings seem to be popping up in their place, the swelling numbers that have 'for lease' posted in the windows almost like nameless gravestones as if to announce what once was, but has now been forgotten.
Even in places like the local Mall where people are always congregating to spend their hard-earned cash, stores closed, steel gates blocking archways, swelling vacancies of places soon forgotten.
Nothing really lasts forever, most things these days were not built to last, they were meant to break down after a time. Even our appliances have predetermined shelf lives by design of their manufacturers.
Still, you see people walking around from place to place, buying, re-buying, and buying some more.
Seemingly oblivious, or perhaps choosing to be oblivious to those cracks in the road, those potholes in the path that scream for another tire to victimize on some car of a family that is already strapped to the very brink of failure.
I find more empty Dojo on the same street I frequently traverse, fewer hours, fewer students, perhaps another vacancy in the making, and not long in the making at that. In a local book store I had been looking to buy 'The Little Black Book of Violence' only to find that the Martial Arts section was a single shelf, not much to choose from.
The selections in other sections had also significantly dropped; did America suddenly become illiterate? I wonder.
The majority of the selections available were either politically minded, extreme viewpoints, or MMA books and Magazines. For some time I had wondered if specific magazines were even still in print, I happened upon one by chance and was a bit surprised.
At least they still had Meditations on Violence on the shelf, already have it, mine is signed, don't need another copy, but that was a small little twinge of hope.
The nice clean Dojo on the South Hill still maintains healthy numbers, mostly Doctors, Lawyers, other high-paying professionals and their Children. That is alright, they still run scholarship programs for the time being, but most times those that need it can't get the information on where to find it.
High priced with high paying clientelle, perhaps they will weather the storm. I don't want to say anything disparaging to anyone, but the illusion never holds up to reality.
They see nice clean floors, pressed uniforms, smiling faces, sometimes, and very rarely venture beyond their safety zone, smart on their part, but with the way this thing is spreading it won't be long before one can no longer tell the bad part of town from the good.
I still see those cracked streets, the homeless on the same street corners every day, seemingly growing in numbers - far more gang activity in my old haunts than there was when I was a kid, new malicious activity in areas that used to be good, worse in areas that used to be bad.
Police shootings have gone through the roof, police beatings, with growth and expansion in these areas on the horizon and who can blame them? The force is cut, Detectives assume Patrol Duty, tensions are high, with more crime, bombs having been planted (according to the FBI the most sophisticated bombs seen in the US sofar, in Spokane, imagine that, and I was standing only a few feet away from one - talk about scary).
We can talk traditional values versus theoretical function until we are blew in the face, naturally this is what people do in study and practice, but in the end it falls short of addressing real dangers, real threats.
Maybe not by much, which is fine, training is still necessary and extremely important, theoretical discussion helps stoke the fires, but in the end reality is reality.
As Teachers it is a good idea to really jar the Student out of that comfort zone, to really get those gears turning, and not on some ideal, not on some stylistic notion or purity or tradition, that will come naturally if it holds to the flames of reality, and it will continue to grow and change if it is worthy.
Also not on some idea of 'new' versus 'old,' nothing is sacred, the only thing profain is the failure to address what is there and allow for some breathing room when things don't seem up to par.
It comes in more than just 31 flavors, it comes with more than just a waffle cone, in reality only reality can hold up, and it is a chaotic mess with no conscience, no care for you, your family, your friends, your situation, nothing.
This is the beast we face, and it has many faces, you may only be facing one, but there are thousands more for which you may not be prepared, and the one-size-fits-all notion just does not cut it.
We need to really look at our Brave New Worldview, are we choosing the bliss of ignorance, or are we addressing what is right in front of us in all its' grotesque glory?
The road forks here.
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