(Note: all photos courtesy of Wikipedia) When you were born, do you remember anyone ever telling you that you would need courage to survive and manage the challenges, hardships, calamities and exigencies of your life? No? Me either. As we live through the upheavals of the coronavirus pandemic; the oft changing and bizarre dictatorial edicts of power-obsessed mayors and governors; the frustrating and ceaseless reversals of scientific assessments and, in the United States, the senseless, wanton, hate-driven destruction of life and property during the riots across America, how does one cope with such needless and lunatical madness without going mad?

As we all clearly know, “social distancing” has ingrained itself into the global community in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and ensure personal safety. Too, as all Kiado-Ryu students know, “Distance” is the #1 Security Principle in self-defense. This is continually driven into every KIA student’s mindset. However, distance is usually regarded as physical and defined as “external.” Yet, there is another type of distance which is, perhaps, even more critical in self-defense situations .

Every one of the sixty-four Black Belts of the Karate Institute of America knows it. Every person who has become successful in any line of endeavor knows it, and those individuals who want to survive the coronavirus pandemic, as well as its aftermath, need to know it if they don’t already. Do you know what “it” is? Luck? Good luck with that. Hope? A nice thought but hope is just a belief, not a characteristic.

First, a thanks to Brian Doll for sharing this sad but powerful image of vehicles lined up at SDCCU (San Diego County Credit Union) Stadium, vehicles whose occupants are waiting in search of food provided graciously and generously by the local food bank “Feeding San Diego.” This image is not uncommon. Across the nation other communities are experiencing the same problem, vehicles, often lined up for miles, patiently waiting for sustenance.

COVID-19 is a virus, but it’s also an enemy, an invisible and lethal enemy. As the whole world knows, COVID-19 is humanity’s #1 enemy at this moment in human history. Truly, we are at war. COVID-19 struck quickly and powerfully in a blitzkrieg that has, like 911, changed the world. It will be defeated but not until it has done more damage. In its aftermath, we would be wise to reassess why so many countries around the world, if not every country, was caught off-guard.