words of wisdom

Grandmaster Timmerman sent out an email the other day. i asked him if i could repost it. Being at the age he is, being in the martial arts for as long as he has been, he calls it as he sees it. i liked this email, so i asked him if i could repost it. He will be at our school this weekend to put on a seminar.

"I am contacting you all today to share with you some of my personal thoughts about martial arts and what a black belt means to me. With so many new black belts on deck since our Gathering of Grand Masters event, tests, and promotion ceremony, it is as good a time as any to touch on this subject. Perhaps I am wrong, or perhaps I am simply an idealist; but, to me having a black belt around your waist should have more meaning than a simple tool to keep your Dobok tied up or your pants from falling down. To me, having earned a black belt should have much more meaning than that, and I hope it does to you as well. Perhaps you spent most of your time in martial arts in another association or school, and thing were different where you were raised. So, this message is for higher ranking NKMAA members as well.

For many, HONOR is a word that is not quite understood, and honor should be something that is synonymous with a black belt. If it is not, you have missed some of the most important martial art lessons that were (or should have been) given. Simple thing like respecting your parents, elders, the property of others, and the law of the land should now come natural to you, and if it is not yet... strive to MAKE it important to you. In the old days it came natural to respect elders, and we were glad to give up our seat to a lady or to someone older. We would gladly open the door for others, and it made us feel good to see a smile on the face of someone we just treated with such a simple but kind gesture.

Giving your word or making a promise did not require a contract drawn up by someone else... it was sufficient to shake on it, and we could TRUST you to keep it. It was a natural thing for us to check on family or our neighbours to see if they required some help, and we did not have our hand out to accept payment for a kind gesture. It was sufficient to KNOW your neighbour would some day be there for you. Kids did not expect to get paid for doing chores, and they did not whine whenever they had to pitch in. None of us EVER expected the government to bail us out whenever we screwed up, and we most certainly did not expect them to bail out corporations with OUR money. The fact is that CEOs making bad decisions should expect to get FIRED instead of collecting shameful performance bonuses of millions.

How did it ever come to this? Well, it came to this the moment we allowed ourselves to accept money for every little thing we did or did NOT do. Welfare became an acceptable way of earning a living. The government gave us money for having kids we could not afford to have, and our kids threatened us they would leave home or sue us whenever we handed out discipline. In fact, some government agency probably gives them money to offset how badly parents treat their kids. We ALLOWED government agencies to tell us what we could and could not do in terms of dealing with our kids, and our kids soon learned how to "get away" with things they KNEW were wrong.

It is my sincere hope that somewhere along the way of earning a black belt, YOU learned a bit about being a good citizen, friend, neighbour, and family member. I most certainly hope that you have learned that respect is a very valuable thing to give or to get, and I truly like to believe that your word is something we all can count on. If not, perhaps this is a good time to start. To be sure, we can't change the world overnight; BUT, we CAN make sure that we are there whenever family or friends need us. We CAN make sure that when we make a promise, we will follow up whatever stands in the way. IF we do our little part as black belts, it won't be long before people will once again see that black belts ARE special. Gone will be the day when a black belt can be bought or be given to those who have not earned the right to wear it.

In NKMAA, a black belt's WORD should be his or her bond, and a promise is as good as gold. As an NKMAA black belt you WILL see how you can be the best you can be at home, at school, at work, or in our Dojangs. We never browbeat people into doing things they are unable to do; however, we DO expect our Black Belts and their students to TRY hard to support NKMAA events. If you do NOT do your best to support an event YOUR association or "extended NKMAA family" members put on, how much do you think they will support you in your hour of need? Remember what I said about your neighbour being there for you if you helped him... the same holds true for your NKMAA extended family. We are like brothers, and we do our best to be there. Surely we will NEVER give empty promises, as YOUR black belt is nothing more than what YOU make of it."

the ramblings in my Masters head...:)

Dusty