Let me preface my responses by saying that I am in the Army, and that practicing martial arts on a military installation, contrary to what common sense would dictate, is frowned upon by most soldiers. Most soldiers, in true American fashion, are of the mindset that "chop sockey kah roddy" isn't worth a damn, and they spend great energies mocking and criticizing anyone that practices publicly at one of our fitness centers. It has gotten a lot better over the years, but the knuckleheads are still there. The particular knucklehead I spoke of in my earlier post was one of those types that asks, but had little interest in hearing the answers as he already had his version of reality firmly emplaced and had little interest in adding to his already full cup...
Anyway...
Originally posted by Kirk
So if you're out of the town you live in, and you see someone in
a ghi of some sort, that you can't recognize, and he's doing a
kata that you don't recognize ... what would you ask him?
Well, seeing as how I have more than enough to keep me busy for the next lifetime or so...
Seriously, though, I wouldn't ask him anything. I would probably watch for a while, maybe ask if he/she (gotta be fair on this point - I had a female aikido teacher once upon a time) comes there regularly, might ask what it was they were doing. If I got a smart *** answer like the ones I give out, I would be able to anticipate that either a) he/she is a smart *** (like me) or b) he/she is tired of the constant flow of the ignorant masses coming up and asking goofy questions that they really don't want answers to in the first place...
Let's say you move to some tiny nowhere town, and are having trouble finding an m.a. school anywhere, let alone in your style. And then lo and behold a the "Y", there's a guy who looks like he's the first member of his m.a. class waiting for the others to show up, and you can't tell what style he practices. What would you ask him?
That would be every military base I have ever been to... Depending on the uniform, I might or might not be inclined to ask. Typically, the most common martial arts on or around a military post are McDojang Tae Kwon Do with semi-cultist leanings, or some home-grown, self appointed/promoted wannabe with his own made up martial art. Not interested. I have been lucky here in Japan to find good training off the installation (thanks RyuShiKan! :asian: ) and some on (thanks NBCDECON! :asian: ), but the majority of training that has been conducted on the installation is the kind that would qualify as "Bad Budo" on other forums...
:angry:
Let's say you're practicing the only style that is available in your area, but you have a MAJOR interest in another style. You can't find that style anywhere in your town, but you see someone doing a kata/form/weapon/whatever that MIGHT be of that style. What would you ask him?
Personally speaking, given the small nature of a military installation's community to begin with, and the considerably smaller martial arts community on a military installation, I can say that in time we all end up meeting at one point or another. We seem to gravitate toward each other.
However, speaking hypothetically, if I were inclined to inquire into what that person was doing, see my above comments... watch, ask for regularity of training, come back and watch again, allow the person to see that I am actually interested not just asking questions for the sake of asking questions.
Would a reply of "sculpture, and sometimes painting" and then him/her walking away from you be satisfactory to you? How many fellow m.a.ists have YOU walked away from? How many potential students? How many who could have taught you
something? What if one of those kids could have been the next
Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, Royce Gracie, but YOU walked away leaving
him the impression that m.a.ists are rude people with big egos?
You will note, upon rereading my original comments, I
attempted to walk away. I was unsuccessful, as the knucklehead in question pursued and continued talking. I didn't want to appear overly rude (I was, after all, on my way to work out, not to grab a coffee and have a debate), so I listened, interacted, and politely terminated the conversation.
How many fellow MAists have I walked away from? Probably lots. How many have walked away from me? Probably lots. Not sure of the relevance on that question...
How many potential students have I walked away from? Probably quite a few, however if they weren't serious enough about training with me to come back or to pursue the issue properly, forgive me here, but I don't want them as students. There was a good article years ago in IKF written by Dan Inosanto that talked about the fire in a potential student's belly to train. Inosanto wrote that
his teacher had told him that if you were to have your head held under water until just before you passed out, that need to breathe, that burning urge to struggle to get air again, is the fire a student should have for training...
Sorry to seem harsh. I doubt most students have that kind of fire anyway (I know I didn't when I was younger... Thankfully times change and so have I). But if they were put off by one smart *** comment, then they wouldn't have been too serious about training even if I had indulged them...
Sorry to be harsh, but the fact of the matter is, if I'd have met a kenpoist years ago, that was willing to talk to me about the style ... I would've been a kenpoist years ago, instead of months ago.
No worries! Not harsh, just direct, to the point questions. Good examples, too, I might add. And I feel for you on your kenpo training... Had I been more motivated during my early years, I would have gotten a lot more done than I did.
Gambarimasu!
:samurai: :samurai:
