Does your family understand what you do?

[MBuzzy]

My fiance is very supportive, but she still calls it all Karate.

I can say that even though she has watched some parts of classes, she still does not understand. In fact, this morning, she stated "Well, since Karate isn't cardio, you still have to run everyday."

.....

If it isn't cardio, then I wonder what all of the heavy breathing and sweating is from....

 

[Tames D]

I use to get exhausted constantly correcting people. Don't care anymore.

 

[ChingChuan]

My parents don't really like it because they still think it's all about being aggressive etc. However, I'm not aggressive at all and haven't become so, so I don't understand what they're worrying about . (I'll take them to training in a few weeks, so hopefully that matter will be settled...)

They do seem to like the fact that I'm really practising and getting some exercise, but I suppose they'd rather have me do volleyball .

By the way, everyone I encounter is very skeptical about the... real life applications of my art. Has anyone encountered that? People saying "Right, it's very nice that you do this art, but I don't think it will help you in real life?" I think it's very annoying because I've seen that it works but I can't prove it to people because I'm not good enough yet .

 

[Cirdan]

As thick skulled most of my family and relatives are, they are pretty understanding of the time and effort I put into the arts. I guess it is because most of them are as fanatical about their intrests as i am. My father spends evry free hour fishing, my brother goes dancing salsa as often as he can etc.

The only people I get "it won`t work" or loud keeeay`s from are fat guys who would rather spend time in front of the tv drinking beer and eating pizza than work out. And of course the guy who knows everything about ki and dim mak and blah blah but who has never taken a single MA class because he is too busy watching ninja movies and chatting with his friends on the net about how he was abducted by aliens.

 

[Shaderon]

My hubby used to call TKD, "Tang Sang Fang" until he heard me saying that someone was doing TangSooDo and thought I was messing about... now he's not sure which one is the real art because he can't remember which he said and which I said!

He used to blank out when I talked about it so I stopped talking about it.

 

[chinto01]

I can actually say that no one in my family understands what I do or why I do it. No matter how much I explain it to all of them they just do not get it. However, I know I have all of their support and that is all I ask for.

In the spirit of bushido!

Rob

 

[Shidoshi0153]

Here's a good one. My dad, a pentacostal preacher, thinks the martial arts are occult. The same goes for the father of my step-son. Every time little anthony comes to the house after he has been with his dad for awhile, I get "karate is bad". It just errks me to no end!!

 

[Shaderon]

You know what, I'm adopted and my natural mother is a born-again-Christian. She not only thinks Martial Arts are occult, she thinks that Horoscopes (my other hobby) and herbology (I grow herbs for cooking and healing) are too! She constantly prays for me! :lol:

Fat lot of good it's done my foot though. (Tendonitis)

 

[morph4me]

My family doesn't understand why I do it, but they understand that I need to, and they support me.

 

[ChingChuan]

Here's a good one. My dad, a pentacostal preacher, thinks the martial arts are occult. The same goes for the father of my step-son. Every time little anthony comes to the house after he has been with his dad for awhile, I get "karate is bad". It just errks me to no end!!

I'm so happy I don't have any problems regarding to that... My parents (and I) are pentacostal too (or something like that, I don't really know the english word for it but it's about the same) but my instructor is also a christian .
I guess that was the main reason for me being allowed to do MA . (but I do believe that there's some truth in those concerns - it just depends on the art and the teacher)

 

[CityChicken]

Here's a good one. My dad, a pentacostal preacher, thinks the martial arts are occult. The same goes for the father of my step-son. Every time little anthony comes to the house after he has been with his dad for awhile, I get "karate is bad". It just errks me to no end!!

That's a real shame! I don't understand what is un-Christian / against the Gospel about taking care of your body and mind? What do they tell you? Is it b/c they think it's violent? I'm curious.

Tang Soo Do actually compliments my ministry (I'm from the Lutheran tradition, so we're all in the 'royal priesthood' ) by helping me relax and focus, which is good for deep prayer. Sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread... it's just an interesting topic for me.

BTW - my toddler son knows what 'karate' is and he can't wait to go to class with me! That will be awesome!

 

[Drac]

The guys in the department refer to me as the "Karate Nut" despite the fact that I do not study kartate...They lump ALL the MA together...

 

[Shotochem]

My friends think I'm a little nuts. :shrug:

Support is not exactly what I get from my wife........

that is unless you consider the arguing and complaining before I leave for class foreplay or a good warm up before class. :waah:

The good news is that with a little take out on nights I go to class and compensory take the kids out so she has "mommy time", things have gotten a lot better.

A few nights where she dosen't have to cook and fun time with the kids are a small price to pay to do what I enjoy.

-Marc-

 

[IcemanSK]

My wife understands because when we met, it totally wasn't her experience. She was willing to be patient & understand. She know understands a great deal & has begun to train. For the most part, the rest of family just understands that it's important to me...but they don't really understand why or what it is. I'll take what I can get.

 

[Langenschwert]

Here's a good one. My dad, a pentacostal preacher, thinks the martial arts are occult. The same goes for the father of my step-son. Every time little anthony comes to the house after he has been with his dad for awhile, I get "karate is bad". It just errks me to no end!!

What a bummer. What does he think the Crusaders were? Knights trained Martial Arts from the age of 8, both armed and unarmed, and thus were the elite warriors and Martial Artists of Christendom. Martial Artists of the highest calibre, at that. Even some Christian monks trained in combat arts like their Asian counterparts. If Karate is bad, then so is fencing, jousting/lance combat, boxing, wrestling, and archery.

Hope that helps someone.

Best regards,

-Mark

 

[JBrainard]

What a bummer. What does he think the Crusaders were? Knights trained Martial Arts from the age of 8, both armed and unarmed, and thus were the elite warriors and Martial Artists of Christendom. Martial Artists of the highest calibre, at that. Even some Christian monks trained in combat arts like their Asian counterparts. If Karate is bad, then so is fencing, jousting/lance combat, boxing, wrestling, and archery.

Hope that helps someone.

Best regards,

-Mark

All very true (Knights Templar anyone?) but I 'think' that the main concern for some Christians is the concept of Chi/ki/qi. To someone who doesn't know a lot about Chi, Taoism, what have you, it would seem like mysticism, which is generally considered hedonistic by Christians of all denominations.

BTW: I started this thread, so if we want to derail it to talk about religion, you have my permission

 

[RED]

Funny you ask. The wife is very supportive of my TKD. She even knows how to say it right. I came home a coupls nights ago after passing my test, she asked me how it went and all the usual cliche' talk about class. She even asked me if I had to break a board. So far so good. I told her everything went well blah, blah, blah...I braoke the board. Then she ended the conversation with "You make me feel so much safer knowing the next time I'm attacked by a board you can take care of it..." SMACK!!

She's a good wife none the less.

 

[Andrew Green]

Mod note:

Discussion regarding religion moved too Philosophy in this thread:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49558

Andrew Green
MT Tech Admin

 

[Shaderon]

Funny you ask. The wife is very supportive of my TKD. She even knows how to say it right. I came home a coupls nights ago after passing my test, she asked me how it went and all the usual cliche' talk about class. She even asked me if I had to break a board. So far so good. I told her everything went well blah, blah, blah...I braoke the board. Then she ended the conversation with "You make me feel so much safer knowing the next time I'm attacked by a board you can take care of it..." SMACK!!

She's a good wife none the less.

Yea I had that one from my dad when I first wanted to take up an MA, I indicated an interest in breaking and he said hitting boards is only good if a board attacks you, next thing he's watching a move where someone gets hit with a plank of wood.... he failed to see the funny side.

 

[Shuto]

Does my family understand what I do? They better since they started before me!

As far as the Karate, Kung FU thing goes, that doesn't bother me in the least. It's similar to calling tissues Kleenex in my mind.