Three Men and a Baby

Congratulations go out to Jerid Wooldridge, Mike Hamm, and Josh Turner who successfully tested for their 9th kyu rank last weekend. Each passed a rigorous testing of everything from the manual including kata (Fukyugata Ichi), Ippon kumite, kote-ate, and Tuite.
In other news, the newest Budokan student is not yet sleeping through the night. Emma Grace was born 11/16/07 and already has her double bone block down.
We are progressing on the opening of the new location of the Budokan, with grand opening date set for 3/1/08.
Stahl Sensei successfully gained about an inch in height after surgery on 1/9/08 and is recovering at home. He should be back at the dojo soon.
All members should look forward to a work day at the new dojo some upcoming Saturday to get things underway.
Ader Sensei from Colorado has a weekly newsletter which I will try to repost here. This weeks lesson is apropos considering Josh's conversation at lunch the other day. I hope some of everyone's anger at the Budokan can be redirected in this manner. Here is the latest issue:
Quotes:
"The mind is restless and goes wherever the attention is.
Control your attention and you control your mind." - The Daily
Guru
"The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts
it." - William James
"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of
persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those that
fail” – Napoleon Hill, author
"I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we
do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing."
– Ronald Reagan, 40th US president
"Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't
be scaled by someone who knows the secrets of making
dreams come true. This special secret - curiosity, confidence,
courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence.
When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly
and unquestionable." - Walt Disney (1901-1966)
Lesson:
The Yin and Yang of Conflict
Most people learn to use the symmetrical response to conflict.
“Symmetrical response” is the psychological situation where when
someone pushes you then you push back, as forcefully or more
forcefully than the person pushed you. This concept is pretty basic;
it is the old “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality. The trouble
with this is that each act of aggression leads to someone else trying
to even the score in a never-ending and increasing cycle of conflict.
This “eye for
an eye, tooth for a tooth” type of response may eventually lead us to
an eyeless and toothless society.
Even in self-defense situations it is not always the best solution
to react with the strongest response available. If the opponent
yields, then the attacker will actually throw himself off balance and
become a victim because of his own aggression.
Now don't get me wrong, this type of counter-attack need not be
totally dropped from one's arsenal of defense, but one should learn
other alternatives as well. As most of you have already noted, our
curriculum includes a range of responses that fall on the spectrum
from controlling to destroying.
If one is cornered then one needs to respond in order to
survive. But learning the “complementary response” expands your
arsenal of strategies and tactics. This type of reaction is based on
the theory that when your opponent pushes, you pull and when he
pulls you push. The real key is that what you do is usually the
opposite of what your opponent is expecting. This response moves
into the realm of the psychology and emotion of combat as well as
the physical.
This type of self-defense strategy is known as "the art of
fighting without fighting" or " using the attackers energy against
him." The more aggressively the opponent attacks, the sooner and
harder he will fall.
The ultimate in tactics is to yield to your opponent's attack and
yet position yourself so they do not have any options for
continuing the attack. This is called “kyo” in Okinawan martial arts.
The word actually means empty, motionless or void, (one of
the 9 elements of Chinese martial arts by the way) and indicates
that the opponent's attack came to a complete stop because he had
no other option available.
This ability to yield and yet maintain complete control of the
situation is the mark of a true warrior and his pursuit of “Black Belt
Excellence.”
Happy Training. Kyoshi Ader
Inspiration:
What would you do? You make the choice. Don't
look for a punch line. There isn't one. Read it
anyway. My question is: Would you have made the
same choice?
At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students
delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who
attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,
he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside
influences, everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.
He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is
the natural order of things in my son? "
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like
Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the
world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents
itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that
child."
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some
boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you
think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of
the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team,
but the father also understood that if his son were allowed
to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging
and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his
handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field
and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy
looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six
runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be
on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth
inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a
broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a
small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw
the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom
of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was
still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay
put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no
hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in
the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his
father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the
ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs
and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away
their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given
the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible
because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly,
much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher,
recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside
for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob
the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The
first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The
pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball
softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at
the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the
soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the
first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would
have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first
baseman's head, out of reach of all teammates. Everyone
from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run
to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run
that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down
the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time
Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the
ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first
chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown
the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher's intentions so he too, intentionally,
threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead
of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay"
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop
ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base,
and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and
the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run
home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate,
and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won
the game for his team.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling
down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a
piece of true love and humanity into this world".
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that
winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his
father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother
tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a
second thought, but when it comes to sending messages
about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and
often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public
discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our
schools and workplaces.
We all have thousands of opportunities every single day
to help realize the "natural order of things." So many
seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us
with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and
humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the
world a little bit colder in the process?
A wise man once said every society is judged by how it
treats it's least fortunate amongst them.
Belief Is All You Need
A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to
read a map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he
wasn’t injured, his car was stuck in the mud. So the man walked to a
nearby farm to ask for help.
“Warwick can get you out of the ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to
an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the haggardly mule and
looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick
can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men
and Warwick made their way back to the ditch.
The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins he
shouted, “Pull Fred! Pull Jack! Pull Ted! Pull Warwick!” The mule
pulled the car from the ditch with very little effort.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule and
asked, “Why did you call out all of those other names before you called
Warwick?”
The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As
long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”
In 2008, look for ways to give more!
Best wishes for happiness, health and great
training. In the way, JWA
***Those old cell phones in your junk drawer can be used to
help our deployed service men and women call home for free.
Each phone equals a 250-minute calling card that allows them to
call husbands, wives, parents and children. Please help us honor
those that are protecting our country, family and friends. You can
help. Please go through your junk drawers and turn in those
phones. Then ask your family, friends and coworkers to do the
same. For more information, click here or call Jodie Butler at 850-
485-4695. www.letthemcallhome.org ***