Who You Know and Why You Know Them
 
Kinda funny… Kinda funny if you don’t take things too seriously…
 
I was hanging out with a friend of mine. We got to speaking about the times gone past in the world of the martial arts. He reminded me of this funny dissertation that this actual Ph.D. did about me on one of those message board websites, back when those things were still a thing. The guy even used footnotes and all of that kind of academic stuff just to try to put the kibosh on me. Like I said back then, "It was so National Enquirer," as that was long before TMZ. But, that’s not the story…
 
The story was/is how my friend, and apparently several others, including a couple of my one-time students, tried to put up rebuttals but the webmaster kept pulling them down every time they were put up. How BS is that?  And, if they were doing that to me, I am sure they were doing that to others. Meaning, they, the webmaster and the whomever, only wanted their distorted point of view to get out there. …Out there, footnotes and all.
 
Why does the martial arts have to be like that? Why is there so much negativity? And, all anyone who has ever had anything to do with the martial arts has to do is to look at themselves and the other MA people they’ve interacted with to know this is true.
 
You know, for a long time now, I’ve tried to steer as clear from the martial arts as possible. Sure, I know I’m known in and of that field. And, I’ve done, and continue to do my share to keep them alive and evolving. …Like I’m doing right now. But, I’m talking about all of the politics that seemingly go hand-in-hand with the martial arts. I just don’t want to deal with it/that.
 
I don’t know that it was ever any different? It never was as long as I have been involved. And, that’s most of my life. I mean, even look to the vintage Hong Kong Kung Fu movies. It’s all about, “My Kung Fu is better than your Kung Fu.”
 
Of course, there’s the other side of the issue… That is when people want to know you simply because they believe that the knowing you will bring something to their life or their whatever.  For example, from the moment my name became synonymous with the martial arts; when I was in all the magazine, leading to the video tapes, leading to books, leading to etc… …People wanted to know me. Some wanted me to become a part of their organization believing it would provide them/it with sort of credibility. Why? Only they can answer. But, it happened a lot.
 
Kind of like that great scene with Al Pacino in the Godfather III, “Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in.”
 
The point I am trying to make here is, what are YOU doing about that someone else who walks a different path than you? And, this is not just about the marital arts. It’s about everything. Truly, are you always positive when someone follows a different path than you, believes something different, practices a different whatever, taught by a different teacher? What comments do you make about them? What do you say about them? What do you do based in what they do? And maybe, even more importantly, what do you think about them?
 
Everything you say has a reaction. It causes people to think, feel, and believe a something that is or is not true. Everything you do has a similar, if not more intensive result. And remember, just because you have heard something to be true, just because you believe something to be true, does not make it true.
 
In closing, what are you putting out there? Is it forever positive? Is it forever negative? Is it somewhere in between? And, if it is not one hundred positive, leading to only good thoughts feeling, and actions, really what do you believe you are creating? Is what you are saying and doing making anything any better? Or, just creating a whole lot of the worse?