February 2016 – Teaching Others 1

This might seem at first blush to be a repeat of something I wrote earlier this month.  I might have grabbed a sentence or three from this journal entry to tell another story…  Sorry for going out of order, but that’s what happens when you group journal entries by theme.

graduation-hat-cap-md2/8/16 – College Dojo

Sometime last week I got in trouble with Sempai Drill Sergeant for cutting a tired gal some slack – letting her catch her breath while we were sparring.

Today a young man was dog tired after sparring with Sempai Drill Sergeant.  We rotated the line and I found myself paired with this young man.

Sempai Drill Sergeant said, “He’s tired.  Kick his ass.”

As soon as Sempai Drill Sergeant couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes in his direction to show sympathy with my sparring partner.  I wanted my sparring partner to laugh, relax a bit.  My partner was too far gone for that.

Reluctantly, I beat him up (no harm – just constant light stinging).  Sempai Drill Sergeant is very fond of push ups, and I’m not, so I wasn’t going to risk it.

I had my partner against the wall.  Suddenly, something snapped.  My partner then put up a ferocious fight.  I was grinning like a loon at him.  I was so proud!  Until the fight ended, I kept encouraging him to beat me up, LOL – saying things like, “You’ve got this!” and “Excellent!”

I saw the power of the human spirit.  I saw that young man make the decision that he wasn’t going to take any more punishment.  It was wonderful.

Thinking about the time I cut the young lady some slack last week, I’d have to admit I failed to teach her about what’s inside her.  Yesterday I gave that young man a gift, albeit under the unspoken threat of push ups (LOL).  The young lady learned very little from me – at most she might be thinking about how she can watch out for my sweeps.  The young man learned that when it looks like he’s being called to do the impossible, he can find it in himself to rally.

*************

And, as you may recall from an earlier post, this young man did rally in tournament.  He faced not one, but two big opponents, one of whom hit him hard in the ear.  He won both fights and a gold medal.

Author: Joelle White

I began training in Karate in June of 2014 after a 27 year hiatus.

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