The Necessity for A Study in Violence.

 It is more than painfully obvious that crime is escalating, criminals becoming more brazen in their activities and actions, despite any polling, it is plainly obvious by just paying attention, by listening, watching, and communicating within the community (funny how both contain 'commune').

It would be foolish to question the place of violent study in the grand scheme of things, just as it would be foolish to question the necessity of food and water.

From empty hand, to blunt and edged weapons, to non-lethal items such as mace or bear spray and Tasers to Fire Arms. Police are under staffed, under funded in a lot of places, and only arrive AFTER a crime has been committed. 

Being pro-active in our own protection and the protection of those whom depend on us (even those who don't) is our responsibility, as is knowing how to operate within legal parameters and the Psychological Ramifications of doing so. 

Just yesterday something went down outside of the school my children attend.

A registered Sex Offender was confronted and subsequently arrested after casing the parameter of the school, in broad daylight and in view of a number of witnesses. 

This is not an isolated incident and there are more examples of brazen criminal behavior from which I can draw to justify that it is utter irresponsibility to put off an understanding of Self Protection to an outside Organization. 

Especially when it comes to those you love. 

Temperance and Fortitude.

Not so deep inside every man is a savage flame that cannot be tamed, only directed. 

There is no need to fight this, only a need to temper and hone it like the blade of a sword in the fires of a skilled metal worker. 

Raw, unformed, this energy is wild, chaotic, without direction or control, it does more harm than good.

Temper that energy, direct it by reason and wisdom, it does more good than harm. 

Every boy must face trials to put what they discover about themselves to the test and temper those discoveries further with experience. They must face these trials in order to become complete. 

This is lacking, even in many Martial Arts Schools where they should not be lacking. 

I realize this is one-sided and focuses solely on Boys and Men, but in this day and age, it is a focus that seems necessary as many are demonized for this when it should be treated as sacred to be a keeper of this internal Savage flame. 

Something that is truly necessary. 

To my Son, Geoffrey.

Fatherhood is the greatest thing one can achieve as a Man, it is also one of the hardest things to endure. 

My Family is everything to me, my Wife, my Children, my extended Family, whether by blood or by shared experience, it is the single most important pillar of my being, my reason for existence in this world. 

My Son Geoffrey is an accomplished Trick Scooterist in his own right, extremely skilled, dedicated to his craft, even going so far as to try new things in the form of Skate Boarding, though he does not enjoy Skate Boarding as much as he enjoys his Scooters. 

Some of the things this young man can pull off boggles my mind and his dedication to this Art is, indeed, not something to be scoffed at. I am truly proud of his achievements in this. 

The mindset it takes to pull off even the simplest of things is on par with any Martial Artist worth their salt. 

I recently had an exchange with Geoffrey that hit harder than any punch to the face I have ever taken. 

There is no Custody Battle, and the years have gone by without incident until recently. He is approaching his eighteenth birthday, so there really is no point in pursuing that, nor would I ever want to take him away from everything he has come to know. 

Someone told him otherwise, and he believed it. 

"The court case," he cited as his issue, "Stop trying to take me, my brother, and my sister away from everything." 

This was in response to my having reached out to him to make sure he was okay after having seen him take a hard hit to the head by concrete attempting to ride a Skateboard on his friend's Youtube Channel.

I explained that I was not trying to take him away, that I was only trying to visit with them all during my allotted visitations in the Parenting Plan and had always returned them.

Some of the other things that came out of his mouth were pretty vulgar, with one racial 'n' bomb dropped that really caused concern as I had never used that term.

The take away from this is that kids will be kids, he knows I am always there for him, no judgment, regardless of what was said or what he chose to do. 

We all face challenges in our lives, the best way to deal with those challenges is to push forward, accept them as they come and allow them to make us into better human beings. 

Also, remember, family is everything, regardless of how said family might feel in the moment, time heals all wounds. 

Training Mindset - Not Style or Concept.

It is human nature to overcomplicate things to absurd levels...

In Martial Arts there is one underlying truth, Martial Arts are not some self-help or spiritual path, that is all an aside based on personal experience and life choices. 

The simplest way of putting it, if someone attacks me then they need to regret that decision. 

There is no need for added 'woo' nonsense, there is no need for over complicated concepts that force overthinking in order to bolster student retention and revenue come test or seminar time. 

Cut out all the bullshit and what is left? 

"You cannot do that until such and such a level of understanding" says the person attempting to put on airs of being a wise Sensei or Sifu. 

I call bullshit on that. 

I've been in fights, I've lived in rough neighborhoods where adherence to this nonsense will get your face rearranged and your lifespan shortened to a matter of seconds. 

I've been training in Martial Arts for over thirty years as well and the quickest way towards something applicable can be found in the Boxing Gym, on a Wrestling Mat, in a Brazillian Jujitsu or Kickboxing Gym. 

Yes, many still disparage these things in the Traditional World, but mainly because it is true and the results are readily discernable almost from day one. 

My Son Garretty was a Regional Wrestling Champion by the time he was nine years old, on the Mat the kid is a phenom, he can lay waste to adults, let alone kids his own age. 

I learned the basics of Wrestling when I was about five or six years old from my older brother Frank and it helped me tremendously in dealing with bullies at school. 

Am I here to disparage Traditional Karate? Not at all. My knowledge of Traditional Karate, bolstered by the likes of Practical Minded Teachers such as John Roseberry, Kris Wilder, Iain Abernethy, Charles Todd, Michael Dascenzo, and Gene Villa have helped me tremendously and, indeed, helped me coach my Sons on the sidelines at Wrestling Matches when their Coaches failed to provide any sort of Strategic Guidance. 

Even a six month exposure to Brazillian Jujitsu has proven far more useful than any sort of exposure to overly complicated 'woo' concepts. 

I am, by no means, an undefeated and elite fighter, but I can and have held my own and kept my wits during some pretty extreme situations that could have proven fatal otherwise. 

No one can really say what will work and what won't until the rubber hits the road and we are forced to apply what we have learned, if we make it through, then what didn't work really needs to be discarded while we devote ourselves wholeheartedly to what proved useful, even then, it may not prove useful all the time.

Fighters such as Machida, Ruten, and GSP have all proven that Karate is nothing to scoff at. 

While they did make modifications to make their respective areas of study more applicable to the Cage, what they do is still Karate at its' core, but they did take what worked and discarded what didn't. Bas Ruten is so dedicated to the art of Karate that he created a fight league based solely on Karate. 

The training methodology may change, but the core remains the same, it has just allowed itself to shed all the nonsense that holds it back. 

Although mostly focusing on punching and kicking, this is mainly due, primarily, to experience in the Sport Karate arena where stand-up grappling and throws are, for the most part, ignored. 

Many of these figures have also given up the study of Kata or relegated it to the realm of being a 'good workout.'

I am a proponent of Kata, but we need to get beyond the bullshit and look at what is there. 

Wrestling concepts exist, clinch fighting exist, throwing, takedowns, and defenses against the same exist, these can be found in the realm of Kata, but the approach to Kata needs to change. 

Kata is not just a set of prearranged dance moves and should not be trained as such. 

Individual Kata routines are more of a modern invention by respective 'founders' of 'styles' and these have become cemented into set routines based around set styles that do not exist. 

Jan Dam has opened the way for me to explore my Kata in a way that is more fluid, based around principle and strategy than one will find in any modern Karate school. 

However, that being said, there is still much work to be done to break away from a mindset that is overly complicated, overthinking, and, frankly, impractical. 

I am not concerned about lines and circles so much as I am with taking the other individual down and putting them out of the fight as quickly as possible. 

There are much faster ways of achieving this than moving toward ever more complex concepts. 

Fighting/Combat is simple. It has to be, otherwise you won't live through the ordeal to tell your Grandkids about it years down the road. 

Warriors and Military would not waste their time with something that is not readily applicable in a short amount of time. 

The idea that Soldiers would spend years learning something that they cannot apply in the first five days is laughable because they need to be combat ready at any given moment, the same with Police and Security. They are not going to waste their time. 

The idea is to build a Soldier that is battle ready from day one and to make them ever more competent over time, which is usually accomplished by drilling down simplistic basics over and over. 

The only complexity comes in greater understanding of said basics and basic strategy that evolves over time. 

Endless stances, endless concepts that require ever more complex discussion, these things only detract from actual training that should be aimed at building the Soldier up both mentally and physically into an elite combatant in order to meet the enemy with something truly formidable. 

This goes for weapons, this goes for hand-to-hand defense. If we look at the way of war, weapons have been simplified over time, maybe not in design, but in use... It is not necessary for a Soldier to understand how a Missile is built, unless it is their job to apply said knowledge in the upkeep of said Missile, it is only necessary for them to know how to enter codes and push a button. 

A far cry from Swords, Axes, and Spears... Even the use of these were not overly complex, just endless variations on strategy that apply pretty much the same basic principles in different ways from different angles. 

These were not even ruled by a specific way of doing things, one was trained to think in the moment and apply according to circumstance... The training? They trained by DOING in a controlled environment. 

There is zero substitute for this.

One needs to break free of concepts like 'style' or even 'level' within said 'style' and just train. 

Forget all the 'woo' bullshit, there is very little of that that is applicable, most of it will get you hurt. Yes, there are some mental aspects of training and some training methods for the mental aspect that are useful, but don't get lost in the rabbit hole of complexity. 

Khabib is one of my favorite fighters, a Daghastani Wrestler from a family line who is undefeated in the Cage. 

His was more about mindset coupled with physical technique and brutal training in which he wrestled bears, trained with large stones at high altitudes and at the end of the day if he said he was going to Maul you and Rearrange your face HE MEANT IT and he DID IT. 

Get in that mindset. 

Karate is NOT Special

"Karate" is a silly thing, a silly word, and a silly way of life. I remember going to an airport to attend a big Karate event and being greeted by a guy that bowed to us... He was not Japanese and I felt a bit silly about the whole thing, we can just shake hands or fist bump, that is fine. 

We can bow in the Dojo, that is proper, unless we are in Japan where it is not only socially acceptable, but part of the social make-up of the country. When in Rome. 

Will Karate teach a person how to calculate a formula or invent some grand thing? No. Karate does not have all the answers, not all the answers can be found on that floor and, no, Sensei is not all-knowing and full of wisdom. 

Karate, or any type of training that requires effort for that matter, will provide ways in which resilience can be cultivated and taken from the floor into all other aspects of life, but one does have to put in the work. 

You can get this from lifting weights, a good hike, rock climbing, dance lessons, it does not necessarily need to be from this thing with which many have come to identify as a key element of their persona. 

Perhaps it makes them feel special? It certainly is an interesting and unique niche, or at least it used to be, although now it is viewed as something mostly for children and is often dropped as soon as the child hits a certain age and finds something else. 

"Karate" is a very silly thing indeed. It is certainly NOT who I am as a whole person, it is only a very small part of that and, perhaps, it gets far too much attention, far too much focus. 

There are many other aspects of life that are far more important. In my case, being a Father, being a Provider to my Family, a Leader at work, an Artist, a Friend, sometimes a Mentor, sometimes a Student, a Third Degree Knight of Columbus through the Church with a focus on helping others less fortunate. 

An example to my Children, which does not always work out. 

One does not need to put on a Karate Gi, bow, say things in Japanese, kick and punch air up and down a wood floor in order to work towards becoming who they are meant to be. 

Most challenges are thrown at us outside the Dojo, off the Floor, in a world where that training is not respected, where your title and your rank mean nothing, where people are going to disrespect you and try to tear you down, for real, in every way possible. 

So what is the point of all this? 

Karate is not special, it does not make a person special, it does not give a person any sort of special abilities or special insights. 

If you think you are special because of Karate I would say you need to drop it and find something else to do. 

I have met great people in Karate circles and I have also met people that were truly just assholes in Karate circles. What does Karate have to do with it? Nothing, they just happened to train Karate. 

The people that were great seemed to realize this. The people that were assholes let it go to their heads as though it reserved for them some place on high and everyone else was beneath them.

Then there are those who grasp to Karate as a special thing because they are not happy with their lives, however, I feel like those assholes with inflated egos also fall into this category, but they try to put on a good show.

There are people truly worthy of respect that may happen to be skilled at Karate and should be respected for sharing their time and knowledge, as well as for the effort put in to gaining the knowledge they are willing to share. 

The relationships, the bonds that are formed, those are special, Karate is not. 

 

Unplug and Reconnect.

 

With each passing moment the realization comes that Social Media is killing society, not just society, but our small Community. 

Rife with Ego, rife with marketing according to some big trend, regardless of what is practiced, it is all about getting noticed, all about 'me.'

This is the 'Selfie Generation' and it is no less prevalent in the Martial Arts Community where people seek such attention in order to promote themselves and their brand. 

So much ego, yet still these are skilled individuals with much to teach, but can one truly take them seriously? 

Going back and forth with the idea of just shutting down all of my Social Media accounts and really unplugging from the rat race, as it has become, to refocus, to center and reconnect. 

This will naturally cut me off from some things that are only available to me via Social Media, but that is okay, I have everything I need right here, right now. 

Social Media is poison, it seeps into our hearts and minds, our thoughts, our emotions, our opinions, these are no longer our own and, much of the time, it seeks to make us feel like we are less than we are, especially in light of advertising and content. 

We are not lacking, we just need to unplug and reconnect with our true selves in the moment, away from the screens, the keyboards, at least for the majority of the time, when such a thing is possible. 

Who are you? What are you doing? Do you have your own dreams and goals? Is what you are doing furthering you towards said dreams and goals? 

Are your thoughts your own? Are your feelings and opinions your own? Are you self-sufficient? Are you spending as much time training as you feel you should? 

Maybe you are, maybe you aren't, but can you truly be sure if you do not truly know who you are?

Unplug.

Stoic Karate - No Styles, no Rigidity.

 

What a nice day for yard work and Training outside! Taught lessons of body mechanics with a rake and broom for my son and daughter without anything particular in mind, then broke out three Jo and taught them a little bit of Jo basics which, naturally, translate to SOME sword basics. 

So caught up in the media sometimes that we all forget to enjoy the little things by stepping away, getting out, getting dirty, sweaty, and wearing ourselves down. 

We also tend to take ourselves a little too seriously a majority of the time and THAT is when stress gets us. 

In the community it is about style, about lineage, about whatever, we forget to step away from all of that and just train, enjoy training, realizing that we don't need to be so proper or 'Traditional' and rigid in what we are doing.

There are no styles, there is only the way.

This is the way.