Violence

While preparing to teach my first kids classes, I realized that the art I was about to teach them could be considered violent. Any martial art could be considered violent when it comes down to it. I originally had thoughts that perhaps I should lighten it up a little, I was teaching elementary age children after all. As I thought of this though I was reminded of a couple of things.

The first memory that was stirred was from my high school days. My History teacher, Mr. Kichman, relayed a story to us. His son, a new Infantry officer in the United States Army had come home for a visit after graduating from the US Army Ranger School. I remember seeing them stand, watching us run hills for football practice. The next day Mr. Kichman shared their conversation, he had mentioned to his son that he seemed much more laid back than before, that things did not seem to ruffle him. His son's response was interesting, he simply stated that, "when you realized that you could easily kill them, why would you let anyone get you upset."

The second memory was in reading the book Shambala, the Sacred Path of the Warrior, in the book, The book stated that an effect of training as a warrior was that one became confident and less afraid thus allowing them to open their heart to the world.

This is what I want to pass on to the children that I teach, the confidence to not be afraid, the ability to defend themselves so that they can open their hearts to the world. In this light, there are two markets that I feel deserve more access to martial arts. I am now announcing the Nei Dan Foundation, established to bring Chinese Martial Arts to at risk youth and seniors that cannot afford it. Check us out and help if you can, let's help establish an age of Warriors.

I do not teach the martial arts to propagate violence, but instead to mitigate it, to eliminate fear from individuals so that they can open their hearts and change the world for the better.