It is often said that to train martial arts is to
walk a path. I agree. Also, if you keep walking it long enough, it inevitably
leads to self-discovery, and I agree with that one, too. One question does arise,
though – will you like what you discover? No, really, not all self-discoveries
are nice. The next question then, and a decisive one, is how will you deal with
those unlikable findings you may stumble upon?
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| What will yours hide? |
OK, let’s take a step back. In one of my earlier articles
here I discussed authentic motives
for practicing some form of combative disciplines. It is my belief, based on experience,
that in such cases, even if one has to face certain less-than-favorable aspects
of own personality, those situations are mostly perceived as opportunities to
learn and better understand how to proceed.
But, what about those who are in it for all the
wrong reasons? Are there even wrong reasons in the first place? Again, my experience
is that the grand majority of people who are looking for a quick-fix, magic
potion, ultra secrets that would yield invincibility, tend to fall off rather
quickly and end up being rather harmless, unless…we’ll get there shortly.
There also folks who start in a martial art out of
curiosity, and exhibit some perseverance, and find out along the way that they
enjoy the visible awards (belts, certificates), status (titles and ranks)
and/or financial rewards (as unlikely as it may be). Now, I have no problem
with any of those side effects if the said trainees don’t:
a) do
any teaching anyhow;
b) compromise
the quality of their instruction just to indulge their liking of the above “benefits”.
I have met a fair number of former cases, but the
latter…not so many. To reiterate, those who do not teach also so not cause any
harm, and often just stop training sooner, rather than later, after accomplishing
one of those goals. However, if one embarks on the teaching adventure, I am
inclined to apply tougher criteria (not that my opinion matters, though). The
bottom line is, it is absolutely fine to earn money from teaching, wear a fancy
uniform and what not, as long as you are “producing” competent and able exponents
of the chosen system. It just happens that these examples are very few and far
between.
Finally, we come to the shady parts of the woods.
The people who start out of curiosity or with unclear motives and then
somewhere down the line they get all enamored with the decorum, tall tales, ego
trips and what not. When that happens, the actual contents and quality of
training take the back seat and the iconography takes precedence. The main
problem is that such types will see as their chief priority in life to open and
run a school (maybe even a chain of school, God forbid), in order to fully
enjoy their pathology.
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| ...and the dark side takes over.
The danger in having these characters at large is that
in their diploma-mill schools the aforementioned seekers of secrets and invincibility
will be led astray, taken advantage of, hurt, and possibly the worst of all –
grown into spreaders of their instructors’ training models. These are also the
kinds of personalities who dominate the arenas of internet trolling and
keyboard warriors with no better things to do than to trash other people’s
efforts and work, getting boggled in gossip, slandering and other vile
practices.
Yeah, the path of martial arts will reveal those
people in our midst, and the threat is not that they will dislike and deny what
is obvious, but rather that they will like it and let that newly found menace
take reins.
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