Martial Arts do not teach us how to fight.
Firstly, Gong Hei Fat Choy.
Secondly, Happy Birthday to us, 13 today, hip, hip hooray.
On with the show.
I have been in and around Martial Arts since 1960, which is a very long time in any currency.
I started with competitive styles and then moved to the more personal development styles.
But for me, it has always been about the work.
The skill set.
It still is, even as my body begins to let me down, perhaps even more so, now that my body is starting to let me down.
What have I learned that I think is worth passing on?
Martial Arts do not teach us how to fight.
After 60+ years I know this inside and out.
Yet still, I do the work.
Helio Grace, the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is quoted as saying “Learn to fight like an old man, because one day you will be”.
Perhaps he meant “Learn how to not fight like an old man does not fight”
But that type of advertising does not fill dojo’s.
We will be closed for 2 weeks or around that so here is something to keep you awake at nights.
Although we say we realise that Humans are part of a bigger family.
A family of primates along with Orangutangs, Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Bonobos, collectively known as the Great Apes.
We somehow think that we will act differently when placed under survival stress.
Without training, we will not act any differently.
I can almost hear the ghost of Grouch Marx saying…
… The difference between an Ape and a Man is that an Ape knows that it is an Ape.
THE “D” MAN, posing as Groucho.
Wing Chun Sydney, Australia 