Decisions We Make Dictate the Life We Live

This pictures of a starving little girl being watched by a hungry vulture was taken by a famous photojournalist named Kevin Carter during the famine of Southern Sudan in 1993. The little girl was two miles from the food camp, but there wasn't an ounce of strength left in her. As a journalist Mr. Carter had to document the events around him, not interfere - it is not known if he carried the child the rest of the way or not. Perhaps if he would have used a wide angle lens, we might of seen hundreds of other children in the same situation. But how many can we help? Is one enough to ease our consciousness? Should we do anything at all when we know it wont make a difference? I'm sure Mr. Carter pondered these questions many times. So, what does this have to do with Martial Arts? Everything! We don't train our bodies, minds, and spirits just to learn how to kick and punch. We train to defend ourselves and those who can't defend themselves. Not just from the attacks of an enemy, but also from the cards that life has dealt for us. There are no coincidences in life, destinies have been pre-designed before we were even born. So, is this the great "chess game" of God that we have to play, without rime or reason, or any self determination or will - of course not. With all of the power of God, man kind still seeks out to destroy the human race in one way or another. This is because God has given us the great equalizer, which is our "will". Although he may have a great plan for our life's, we can choose our own path . . .right or wrong. Decisions we make dictate the life we live. Every day we are met with challenges, some more than others, and we are forced make decisions on how to solve those challenges. Just like during an encounter, we need to quickly decide if we are going to engage or not - the outcome will be its own universe, unpredictable, yet unique in its own way. God, however, provides us with the measuring stick, that is, a set of "core values" by which to test those decisions. Without this we would be choosing alternatives based on our lack of experience vs. the time proven principles outlined in the word of God - speaking strictly from a Christian perspective. One of the most important decisions we can make on a daily basis when we wake up in the morning is how to approach life that day - just the fact that you woke up another morning should be joy enough to take on the challenges of that day. How bad do you really have it? Look at the picture again! It is written in the word of god that " . . Not a leave shall fall to the ground without God knowing about it", so, we know that He does not cause everything to happen (good or bad), but He "allows it". I'm not sure what His divine purpose is to have children suffer so much around the world, or innocent people die, while such evil still exists. It is one of many questions I have for Him when I see Him in heaven. One thing I know is that my FAITH in God will never quiver, though tempted many times, He has always come through. There are two promises in his word that I hang my faith on; 1) He will never give us anything we can't handle, and 2) This too shall pass. These promises have gotten me through all of the rough times in my life. Back to the photograph. Fourteen months after the photograph was taken, Kevin Carter received the top honor of a Putlitzer Prize for this photograph. It is the highest honor a photojournalist can receive in the world. A few weeks later, hunted by the images he had witnessed, Kevin Carter committed suicide.

Shihan John Damian

In the summer of 1984 I met Shihan John Damian at Chief Al Tejero's house. He was a big Hawaiian, but very soft spoken and when he would walk across the floor it was like he was floating - not a sound. He started speaking about KI (Chi in Japanese), and it was almost in every other sentence he spoke. You could just feel his Chi across the room. He then started coming to our Goju-ryu school once a month or every other month, just to teach us black-belts. He only taught us advanced Aikido techniques to demonstrate the different types of Chi. Most didn't get it in my school, but I was totally fascinated by this energy you can't see, yet it's more powerful than anything I've seen. I must have asked him a million questions, and every time he would take his time to answer them. He was responsible for "Night of the Masters" show down in San Diego - he would invite the who's who of our time in Martial Arts to demonstrate. Then I saw him demo with six other Aikido black belts. It was like a beautiful dance, with him in the middle and the other guys just flying across the room like if he was blowing feathers in the air. The graceful nature of his movements, the gentle gestures, and the swift techniques were executed flawlessly. He was a great family man and loved his son very much (shown here with his grandson in arms). Although you wouldn't believed it when he would use his son for a partner during demonstrations - he would throw him around harder than any one else. Shihan Damian was always teaching different law enforcement agencies throughout the country, most of the techniques you see them use today to subdue an assailant are directly traceable to his teachings. Then, an interesting thing happened, I saw Shihan Damian do a brick braking demonstration - he was a big man, but the amount of force (Chi) he used was beyond his physical abilities. There was something else there, when asked he simple said it's KI. Wow, what ever that was I needed to know. I approached Shihan after one of our training sessions and told him how much I appreciated his time and efforts to teach us, but I really needed to know more. I wanted to learn the basics of Aikido and KI, since he only taught us all of these advanced techniques. I did them, but I wanted to know why and what were the principles behind these movements, and what was this KI thing all about. Without hesitating, he said that he would give me a letter of introduction to his teacher who happened to live here in Los Angeles - his name was Shihan Roderick T. Kobayashi. The following week I went to meet Shihan Kobayashi and gave him the letter of introduction. After reading the letter, he said that he would accept me as his student and would recognize my black belt. I thanked him but declined the black belt and told him that I wanted to start at the beginning, and learn everything about Aikido and KI (so, I put on a white belt). So, our journey began, I would train every Tuesday and Thursday during my lunch hour (or two) from work. Some time went by and Shihan Damian produced another "Night of the Masters" show in San Diego, and Chief asked me to demonstrate at the show. I was to brake bricks on stage with three other world brick braking experts. There was only one problem, I was never taught to brake bricks correctly. I approached Shihan Kobayashi during one of our training sessions and asked him how I could use my newly found KI principals to brake bricks - I should not have asked him, since he quickly proceeded to demonstrate the "dead arm" Aikido technique. After I got off from the floor I understood what I needed to practice. For the next month I trained in my back yard, adding one brick at a time to the stack. The night of the show came and the audience was full of Martial Arts legends, such as Sijo Emperado and Ed Parker. For the first time in my life I was totally focused and used all of the KI principals I learned to go through 10 slabs of concrete like a hot knife through butter - I got a standing ovation (it was really a tribute to those who shared with me their knowledge). What a great lineage I shared with Shihan Damian, such as his teacher Shihan Kobayashi, and his teacher Grand Master Koichi Tohei (the first 10th degree ever promoted by the founder), and his teacher and founder of Aikido O'Sensei (great teacher) Morihei Ueshiba. One can spend a lifetime learning the two thousand Aikido techniques created by O'Sensei, but they would be missing the essence of Aikido, that is, to harmonize with your surroundings and your times. Shihan Damian and Kobayashi definitely took that to heart and continued to evolve Aikido to be relevant to our times and our space. Unfortunately, both of my Aikido teachers are now dead, but definitely not forgotten. Their legacy lives in my art, for Aikido and the KI principals I learned form the key foundation of Gosikido. The simple nature of these movements, the unification of mind, body, and spirit create a completely defensive environment where the harmony of all things come together - KI being the glue.