Weekend Awesomeness

This weekend has been a blast for myself and several others in my dojo.  First off, we were honored to have our instructor's instructor, Shihan ("a teacher of teachers"), Dale Coker, visit us from Charleston via Thailand, where he lives most of the time.  He taught several seminars, as well as helped us learn some of the black belt kata in more depth.  While this was a physical pursuit, my brain is crammed full of new information and insight, so it may take me several days to get back to my "normal" self!  Oh yeah, wait...I'm not normal.  Well, I can certainly get back to what passes for normality before Monday morning.  Maybe.

One of the best parts of the weekend was participating in a shodan rank test for one of our students.  Happily, and not unexpectedly, he passed and showed a great deal of black belt spirit and fortitude.  For every shodan test I witness or participate in I am reminded all over again of my own test waaay back many years ago.  While reaching black belt is a tremendous milestone, it does serve to remind me that it's not the end goal of a martial arts career, but actually, a beginning of a beginning.  At black belt level, you are finally ready to BEGIN studying the martial arts.  Yep, that's right.  Black belt is not the end.  For some, perhaps, this is the goal, but honestly, having a black belt does not make someone a super hero.  I'm sure my family and friends can attest to that!  I can't imagine stopping just when the journey has only just started!  Could you imagine someone being drafted for the NBA and attaining a starting spot on the team, and when it's time to play, just...stopping?   That would be like stopping work on the skyscraper when only the first floor has been finished.  You'll never know what the view looks like from 100 stories up! 

Incidentally, when someone hears I have a black belt, I get the usual questions/comments:  "Do you really have to register your hands with the government?"  "I'd better not make you angry!", or "Wow, can you really beat up anyone?"  I generally let people know that I only use my powers for good, so they have nothing to fear from me, and I am still waiting for Tony Stark to invite me to be a member of the Avengers.

Okay, maybe not.


But...you never know!

Symbol for Wado Ryu karate