What does Mark Twain—Samuel Langhorne Clemens—have to do with Martial Arts? Actually nothing, per se. Martial artists have their martial skills. Mark Twain had his wit. His tongue was so sharp it could cut a person down before he blinked. For Twain, his wit was his martial art.
Mark Twain has been recognized as the greatest humorist in American history. The great writer, William Faulkner, credits Mark Twain as the “Father of American literature.”
This is a big deal! Chris “Growler” Grau, the 36th Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America, achieved a 5th Dan “Master” ranking on 14 July 2022.
With this hallmark achievement, Chris is to be honorably acknowledged as “Master Grau” in the Kiado-Ryu martial arts system. He is only the second Black Belt in the 43 year history of the KIA to be awarded such status, joining Kim “Cultivator” Thomas who was the first Kiado-Ryu Black Belt to attain such a high rank and awarded to him on 15 December 2015. Master Thomas is the 63rd Black Belt of the Karate Institute of America.
You remember “Big Mike,” right? He was the focal point of the 2009 movie “The Blind Side” in which Quinton Aaron played the part of a homeless kid, Michael Ohr, who eventually became a professional football player in the National Football League (NFL). Sandra Bullock played the charitable mother (Leigh Anne Tuohy) who guided and supported “Big Mike” in his journey. For her performance, Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Martial Arts is combat by definition. The goal of combat is to win. In order to win it is critical that we know both ourselves AND our enemy. Sun Tzu—the famous Chinese warlord and author of The Art of War—stated:
Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
Wars can take different shapes. The current invasion of Ukraine by Russia is a “Hot war,” as were World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, America’s Revolutionary War against Britain and our own Civil War.
He’s smart. He’s fun. He’s nine years old and now he’s a Kiado-Ryu Orange Belt! “He” is Arian D., call sign Terror.
Note: Terror has a wicked right reverse punch; an excellent cross-over back kick and an astonishingly good knife-edge kick. So trouble makers beware! Arian may be nine years old but he’s already been keeping the bullies away. We all know the type—dudes who think they’re tough until they encounter someone who is truly tough. Terror is both smart and tough—a bad guy’s nightmare.
The last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 & 2021) revealed to the world how power hungry many elected officials can be. Mayors, governors, unelected bureaucratic swamp creatures and so-called leaders of the highest order in governments around the world exposed themselves as the tyrants they truly are. Their goal: to seek out human prey and enslave them—at all cost, so they, the elites, can rule the world from the imaginary thrones their counterfeit fiefdoms.