Karate Talk

Closed Comments and Cross-Links

This is a quick editorial issue, so bear with me.  I promise to talk about karate again soon  =).

I have closed a few posts from accepting further comments.  I have done so because basically I feel that the discussions have been done to death.  Many things in this blog are opinion as much as they are experience or knowledge.  Although I try to respect other people's opinions and give them their 15 minutes, after a point there's nothing more to be gained.  When nothing new comes up but people keep posting anyway, I get bored, so I'll 'fess up and admit I'm just plain tired of reading about certain topics, so I closed them.  Nothing personal, but... move on!

Along the same lines, I have now (hopefully temporarily) set the comments to be held for moderation before publishing -- in other words, yes, I'm screening.  I did this because of some comments that were sneaking through:  spam still getting past the filters, some that were obviously designed to set up arguments just for the sake of getting people riled up (rather than rational debate and exchange of ideas), and some that were blatant advertisements for someone else's blog (related or otherwise) masquerading as a legit comment. 

Which brings me to the final issue.  I don't do link exchanges, and I hope that people will be understanding of that.  I do have links to some other sites, but it's always for purely personal reasons.  I didn't do it because they requested it, and I don't request them to back-link to me.  I started the policy initially because I used to work in internet marketing and it felt too much like carrying work over into my hobbies (and by the end of the day I was more than ready to leave work at the office), and continued it because I get so many requests.  So, my apologies to worthy blogs or websites that I've shunned, it's truly nothing personal it's just a policy.  Believe it or not I do visit your sites, and if I find myself going back and like what I see, odds are you'll turn up on my links list sooner or later.

Okay, that's it, boring I know.  I just returned from several days dealing with the funeral of my best friend's father and am exhausted and grumpy so I'll just wish everyone well and leave it at that, talk to you all soon on karate-related issues that happen to interest me at this point in time! lol

New Blood

Our dojo recently became karate home to a group of people who used to train elsewhere.  I don't know what happened at their old school, but it was bad enough that a group of very spirited, dedicated karate-ka decided it would be better to start fresh, from white belt, than to keep on as they were.

Of course I've been prey to any amount of curiosity, but I may well never know what happened there.  I spent a lot of time initially wondering what kind of situation they were leaving and why, wondering how they would adapt to our style and our training methods, wondering how they would fit in with our group and how we would like them, wondering how long it would take them to start picking up, and especially wondering if they were going to get frustrated or otherwise exhibit some behavior problems that we'd have to watch.

I'm almost ashamed of those feelings now.  They've been training with us for several weeks now, cheerfully donning white belts and starting the difficult process of not only learning new things, but of un-learning old things.  Through it all they have shown great spirit, great dedication to training, and a great willingness to take instruction and work hard at what they've been told.  I'm sure they've had some frustrating moments and will have quite a few more, but then, so do I.

And that's what the "new blood" is doing for me:  inspiring me, motivating me, focusing me.  What would I do, in similar circumstances?  It would be so hard to abandon all these years of Shotokan and try to take on something new, but what if I was in a situation where I simply couldn't train with this organization or style?  I know I'd try to self-train at least for awhile, but at some point I'd probably want a dojo to join.  How far would I be willing to go to have that?  When I realize how hard it would be for me to change my habits, and how much resistance I'd feel to doing things differently, I am humbled by their dedication to karate and to getting good, traditional karate instruction, and doing everything in their power to give it their all.

I hope that they're happy with us and have found themselves a good karate "home", and that they can find with our organization what I've found and what they seem to be seeking.  They've certainly made me re-evaluate my situation, and think again how lucky I was to fall into this group purely by chance, at the beginning of my journey through karate-do.