Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Egotism: Our Own Worst Enemy


It is not uncommon in the Martial Arts world that many Martial Artists can have a big ego. No matter what age you are and what belt rank you are. Many of us are not able to control our ego. In my 7 years of training in the Martial Arts, I have met or heard about a few people that have egotism. When I received my black belt a year and a half ago, I vowed to be a humble person. My Sensei kept me in check and made sure that I won’t act like a big-headed big shot. Many Martial Artists who made it to black belt think that they are better than the kyu belts and know more than the kyu belts and the sad thing is that they brag about it, most likely teens act that way. In the Martial Arts world, egotism can be our own worst enemy. When I got my black belt I was offered some perks while I’m instructing and training. One of them is having a special change room for the black belt club. However, by my own personal decision, I turned down that offer and decided to still change with the kyu belts. The reason for making that personal decision is that I felt that I am acting superior to the kyu belts in a way, and I’m not like that. A big part of me says that I am more of a student to the art still, and that I’m still one of the kyu belts. I know more than them, I have more experience than them, but I’m not better than them, I keep learning things in my training and how I teach. Since teaching is not easy with all ages and with students with a range of learning style differences and types of autism, I am always willing to take advice from my seniors and my juniors. More importantly I have grown into a father figure or big brother-like figure. I have trained kids that don’t see their fathers often because their parents are either divorced or they never knew their father. It will benefit students more to learn discipline in that atmosphere order to avoid harbouring anger and hanging out with gangs engaging in negative activities. It is a privilege to pass on what I have learned.
      Kids who have a high kyu belt ranking in the Martial Art system tend to change and have an ego or have an ego from the start. They’re more worried about belt ranks instead of building character, and improving their skills. More or less it can stem from the teacher who cares more about the money and less about educating their students. Young and old alike must come to the understanding that coloured belts is just an indicator of progress, it’s not like “yeah I’m the man now.” The old saying goes “The belt is just a piece of material that holds up your pants.” When Karate was developing in the Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawa), the natives their only trained in loin cloth on warm days. Belt ranks never existed back then until Karate was introduced to Japan. Gichin Funakoshi decided to adopt a dan/kyu ranking system in the art. He borrowed that idea from Judo founder Jigoro Kano. The thing that gets me is when students set a goal to get to their 1st dan (Shodan) and end up reaching that rank with flying colours, they simply quit. I’m not saying they take a little bit of a hiatus or train at another dojo. They simply stop training altogether thinking that they have learned everything they needed to learn and that they are a master. Those that have done this simply don’t understand that Martial Arts training is a lifetime, when you get to Shodan; it is a new beginning of your training or just the beginning of your training. I can say if an individual cares only about obtaining coloured belts, you would know that if he or she reaches black belt they would retire completely from training.
In my personal opinion I think that kids shouldn’t be Black belts, or Jr. Black belts. This is a hot topic to discuss in the realm of Martial Arts. Many people would go against what I say, but through my own experiences, I say that kids under the age of 16 shouldn’t be black belts because it’s a big responsibility to set a positive example. And a majority of kids who are black belts are big-headed. Therefore they don’t have the mental maturity to carry the load of responsibility. The problem is that we lack an understanding in the History of our art. To understand how we got to do what we are doing, we have to go back to understand what happened in 1393CE Ming dynasty. To understand why we are training in our art we must go back to understand 1507CE, to understand why we are training in our art we must go back to understand what happened in 1609CE. To understand why we are training in our art we must go back to understand what happened in 1879, and to understand the history of our art we must go back to understand what happened in the 1920’s in mainland Japan. To understand our history of our art we must go back and understand what happened in 1945. That is my basic outline in terms of chronology.
    When the Asian Martial Arts were introduced to the Western world by war veterans and some instructors from Japan and Korea it had flourished into its golden age. Then overtime, the arts such as Karate and Taekwondo became more of a commercialized sport, and the education of learning self-defense as a top priority was overshadowed. The reason being is that instructors just want to make lots money through commercialism and running a black belt mill (McDojo). In most tournaments you would see competitors sporting multi-coloured gis (Karate Uniforms) and all of that. Before I even donned a Karate uniform and walked into a dojo to give this thing a try, I thought all this commercialized hype was cool. When I was training in traditional Karate for a while, I begin to realize how a scam it can be while training in a McDojo due to pricy membership fees, merchandise fees, grading fees and tournaments fees, and instructors that use their political power by adding taxes to what instructors sell that don’t even relate to their own state/provincial governmental taxes, thus abandoning their path as a warrior scholar and taking up the role as being a con artist salesman to accomplish their goals to make themselves filthy rich and spend their money on something that may or may not relate to Martial Arts. Even those that engage in nepotism in their dojo is a cancer towards traditional Martial Arts. Individuals who are relatives and family friends to a Sensei can get an easy pass, furthermore, receiving a black belt on a silver platter. It is just simply saying, “Oh we like you young man, show me a few katas and I’ll give you your black belt and certificate.” How does that feel to others that had to work hard and pay their dues to achieve their goals than others? They can be envious. If that type of practice at the dojo where I train happens, I wouldn’t stay around. Those that expect to get an easy pass because they think in their minds that they are special in one way or the other; don’t have the heart to be successful in the Martial Arts or in life. You must earn it. As a scholar of the Martial Arts, I felt that following the old budo way was the best path, going back and understanding the roots of the art that I take through lineage and so forth. The sad thing is that many young students that train in Karate or Taekwondo lack the knowledge. All they know is to do this and do that and win lots of trophies. Also, receiving belt ranks very quickly until getting to Jr. Black belt at a young age. It is bad business for Martial Arts schools because students are not educated enough and they are unable to fully grasp combative principles. On one positive note, many Martial Arts students are becoming smarter, if their instructors are being corrupt; they are willing to leave and find a better instructor instead of blindly being loyal to him or her. However, in a bad economy we must be aware of Martial Arts instructors that have an ego and be desperately greedy because there can be more of those individuals out there.
In the brotherhood of the Montu Arts, now Europeanized term as Martial Arts, we have messed up really badly. I speak to those who have claimed titles in your system, Senseis, Sifus, Gurus, Renshis, Kyoshis, Shihans, Hanshis, we must lead by example or else we would lose our youth for the youth who are the future. Don’t put business matters before your students; do not let your ego get the best of you. Those that introduced military science to the world would be disappointed in us. Those that developed Karate would be disappointed in us. I ask these questions for those who are reading this. Do you still want to play politics? Do you want to be narrow minded? Would you sell out? Would you continue practicing nepotism? Would you continue to put your own students down? Would you continue playing the shady salesman/con artists? If so, your Martial Arts journey would be in vain.  
  
                                                                                                                                        HTP NTR
                                                                                                                                        Jonathan

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