Some Ramblings On Loyalty

Daniel: My karate comes from you.
Miyagi: Only root karate come from Miyagi.  Just like bonsai choose own way to grow because root strong, you choose own way do karate same reason.
Daniel: But I do it your way.
Miyagi: Hai.  One day, you do own way.
~The Karate Kid, Part III

Six months before I earned my 1st Dan under Master Ed Fong, I had the privilege of watching several friends test for theirs.  Towards the end of their test, the candidates were asked to form a circle and kneel, and the judges and visiting instructors had an opportunity to address the class.  One of the judges, a visiting instructor from New Zealand, began his remarks thusly: "Two years from now, only one of you will still be standing here.  Two at most."

His remarks were intended to talk about life's journey and how it sometimes carries us away from the dojang, and about the arduous, but worthwhile path that lay ahead for the black belts who stayed true to their training and continued to climb up the mountain towards their 2nd Dan, regardless of where life may lead or how long it may take.  Yet, as I listened, I couldn't help but feel slightly offended.  It felt like he was already speaking to them as if most of them had already quit.  Was this a challenge of our loyalty to our teacher?  The nerve!

Half a year later, I stood next to four of my best friends and training partners through our test.  While the test most certainly is and always will be one of the peak experiences of my life, I couldn't help but notice that one member of the previous class of four was already gone.  In fact, eighteen months later - two years after I had heard that unnerving proclamation, only one of them remained.

When I tested for my 2nd Dan, my own class of five had become a class of two.  I remember that it struck me as eerie to think that the visitor's prediction had come true.  I spent a lot of time trying to rationalize why.  At 16, I thought I had a lot of things figured out (ha!), but that one had eluded me since, of course, there are many reasons why a person might choose to take their life's direction along another path.

The martial artist's path is not an easy one to follow, yet when our lessons take root, the product is not intended to be students who are subservient human beings.  Our lessons build self-actualized people, capable of facing the challenges of their own lives and assisting others with theirs.  Some will follow in our footsteps, but the vast majority of them will (hopefully) become better citizens of the world in their own way.

Jump ahead some years, and now I'm raising my own humble (but growing) martial arts family.  I've 'moved out of the house', in a manner of speaking, but I know where my home is and where my roots are.  My teacher's lessons are still with me and I gratefully pass them on, knowing that someday, if I have performed my task well, my own students will grow to the point where they need to find their own way.

Finding your own way isn't necessarily a sign of disloyalty.  Sometimes it means that you were well-trained.