Quitting has never been an option, following the easy path has never really been my thing. I am not naturally talented, I am not gifted, I can only refine the basics, in Karate and in life. At the end of the day I will never be as good as some, but I will be better than I was the day, or the moment before.
My enemy is not some assailant in the street or some opponent in the ring, it is mediocrity, it is settling for less, it is in stagnation, it is in not improving who I am.
When I look at my Children I see reflections of myself, different aspects of myself, but I also see sparks of unique individuals that seek guidance, though they do not know how to really express that and they might think quite the opposite.
It is hard to get through to them, it is hard to get through to anyone, until the trying ceases and the door is left open to emulate actions as they are carried out in the moment. Lessons will be picked up, but I am not really the Teacher, the Teacher is the action itself, in the moment.
What they take away from it may not be what was intended, which is why it is always best to leave this open and not intend a lesson on that level, but intend, only, to offer something good to emulate.
Building something, working with metal, practicing survival skills, Karate, cleaning a gun, teaching gun safety, showing a respect for bladed weapons via wooden replicas, this is all good practice. Whatever they take away from it will be worth it in the end, but THEY have to take that first step through the door, you cannot force it upon them or this will drive them away.
Whatever the case may be, if that door is open and they even take half a step through, that is better than nothing and they will carry that on because it was valuable to them, it helped them learn something about themselves.
My Sensei once asked me a question he wanted relayed to his former Student, Kris Wilder; I cannot remember the question just now, but Kris Wilder's answer hit home, it went deep, he responded with something like 'always having room for the allowance of the Student to quit.'
This was very much in-line with my Sensei's approach, his job, in his words, was to 'make the Student go away, to make the Student want to quit.'
The reason for this is that if the Student stuck around, if the Student kept knocking, that let him know the Student was serious about learning what he had to teach.
If the Student was not serious, then neither the Student nor the Teacher wasted their time.
That was all.
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