Moments of Honor and Shame

(This is an earlier version of my post entitled, "We Are Not Prepared". I've posted it here because it's a clear example of the revision process that I go through between my initial ideas and the final post. They carry similar messages, but the finished product is substantially different from this. Anyways, I liked this version enough to keep it, and I thought that you might enjoy reading this early version, so enjoy.)

I recently attended an event hosted by Project Soul, a collaborative effort between Loopkicks, AMAPA, and numerous martial arts, dance, spoken word, and hip-hop groups. It's the first time that I've seen or attended an event of this type within our industry, where multiple forms of modern arts are given the opportunity to showcase themselves and celebrate their current and up-and-coming talent. I find the concept to be innovative and the motivations behind organizing a diverse group in this fashion are commendable!

Because of this, I invited several of my students to come with me in order to see the show and draw some inspiration, hoping that they would be inspired by what is awesome, educated through exposure to new things, and trained through observing and evaluating others' successes and challenges. I certainly was. I learned a lot of things tonight - many are reminders, but I learned them again nonetheless.

I learned that most of the martial arts world is not ready for unity.

Forgive me here. I'll eventually be wandering into some negativity and/or soapboxing, but as a master teacher who is responsible for my students and committed to the growth of the arts, I must say what must be said here, and this doesn't apply to everyone. I applaud my students for being respectful, having fun, showing appreciation and gratitude, and looking for positives. I also am giving bonus props to the grand championship competitors who waited all day for a three-minute evening performance and mostly did so with class and sportsmanship. Props go out to the performers as well for being flexible and doing their best out there. There's also those who helped contribute in other ways towards the evening, and I definitely want to recognize that. Such efforts bring us honor, and when I see stuff like that, I feel honored to be counted among you when people consider the martial arts world.

Other actions bring me shame, not directly, but because such conduct dishonors our industry and reduces it to the level of a junior high school field trip to Death Valley - without air conditioning. I saw, heard, and felt things throughout the evening that make me ashamed to call myself a martial artist....because if that's what people see when they think of martial arts, then no wonder we get random posers making asses of themselves in our storefront windows. Behavior like that is inexcusable and intolerable.