Dong!
...on a related note...
I find it extremely annoying when someone visiting my teacher's's (I have more than one school I participate in regularly...as well as those schools I'd like to consider myself a part of but due to life/distance factors cannot) school and interrogate my teachers rather than listening to what they have to say and try to learn what the teacher is trying to teach; then asking questions to which you cannot answer. Too many people "cross train" by walking into another man's house and questioning his reason, method, and application before understanding any of what is taking place. Cross training is extremely beneficial, but only when you have a good enough foothold in what you are already a part of to explore a different way of doing things. Once you have a solid foothold, you can reach for the next rock and it will give you a different perspective on essentially the same goal...getting from point a to point b...defeating enemy one so I can keep living...to get to enemy two.
IE: If I were to stand in front of someone, take a stance, and thrust my right fist forward, I'd wager most of us would call that a punch. So what style/system am I doing?
Does it matter?
Only if ego gets in the way of learning.
I am thankful for every opportunity I get to cross train with various instructors...some are very, very good. And some are not. In every case, however, I get to take their viewpoint and their way of doing things and compare/contrast it to what and how I am doing things now. Sometimes, their way fits ME better. And I'm intrigued to learn more. I have been blessed by having the opportunity to interact with and learn from some VERY talented and extremely knowledgeable Artists. (I capitalize that word because those people move and teach so fluidly and so thoroughly that what they do is no longer just a means of self-defense or butt whipping; they've transcended the plateau between the Man and his Art, and have become the Art.) I don't throw insults around and I could care less who you don't like and who wants to throw insults at me. All I care about is what you can teach me and how I can earn the right to learn from what you have to teach me.
This doesn't mean any one system is better than any other. That only means for ME, myself, and I, that particular way of doing things is easier on my body, more efficient at getting what I want done, or more thought provoking/stimulating. No knock on anyone involved, but everyone has their own way of doing things, and to each their own.
Longwinded, I know, and I apologize if I've said anything inflammatory. This seemed the place for intelligent opinion sharing.
